UTC reliever Taylor Deason pitches during the Mocs' softball game against Radford at Chester Frost Stadium in Chattanooga.UTC junior Taylor Deason was the Southern Conference softball pitcher of the week after allowing two earned runs and striking out 11 batters in 12 innings in three appearances last week. She pitched a one-hit shutout and got a two-inning save in the Lady Mocs' weekend sweep of Furman. "Taylor pitched great this week," UTC coach Frank Reed said in a school release. "She got us ground balls like we wanted and ... gave us a lot of momentum."
• Tennessee senior shortstop Madison Shipman was the Southeastern Conference softball player of the week after the third-ranked Lady Vols' three-game sweep of South Carolina. She hit .429 with seven RBIs and a .714 slugging percentage and set UT's single-game assists record with nine in Sunday's 6-5 win, when she scored two runs.
• Berry College catcher Abby Daniels from Ooltewah was the Southern Athletic Association softball player of the week after batting .556 (10-for-18) with two home runs, a triple, two doubles, seven runs and 17 RBIs in the Vikings' 6-1 week. She went 9-for-12 with 16 RBIs in a four-game sweep of Sewanee.
• The Tennessee Temple softball team lost 9-0 and 12-4 Monday at Belhaven, which is 22-3. Savannah Brownlee homered and drove in two runs for TTU (11-21).
Baseball
• Bryan College swept the weekly baseball honors in the Appalachian Athletic Conference with L.J. Rowden from Soddy-Daisy chosen as pitcher of the week and shortstop Grant Zawadzki the player of the week. Rowden, a sophomore left-hander who won a complete game against preseason league favorite Tennessee Wesleyan, was honored for the second time this season. Zawadzki hit .526 and had at least one hit in each game as the Lions went 4-1.
• Covenant third baseman Perry Rigby was the USA South baseball player of the week after batting .619 (13-for-21) with four doubles, eight RBIs and six runs in the Scots' 3-1 week. He was 12-for-14 with eight RBIs and five runs in a three-game league sweep of Greensboro. Teammate Z Arima was the rookie of the week for batting 6-for-12 with three RBIs and two runs. Will Cleland was 3-for-3 with five RBIs and three runs and David Lockwood was 2-for-4 with three RBIs in the Scots' 12-2 home win Monday against Johnson. Chris Rollins was 2-for-2 with a triple and three runs.
Auto Racing
• Ooltewah's Riley Hickman won the Southern All Stars Shamrock 50 and $5,000 Saturday at Boyd's Speedway. The 2013 SAS series champion also won the Cabin Fever 40 at Boyd's last month and the Tuckasee Toilet Bowl Classic on March 7 at Clarksville, Tenn. Jason Hiett of Oxford, Ala., was the Shamrock runner-up, and Jason Welshan of Maryville, Skip Arp of Georgetown and Todd Morrow of East Ridge were third through fifth. Jerry Coffman and Mike Tinker were first and second in the Crate Late Model feature. Booger Brooks won with Beau Bice second in A-Hobby, and Bruce Kimber and Koty Campbell finished one-two in FWD/Pony.
• Melvin Croft won the $2,000 Super Pro top prize Saturday at the Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip. The 55-year-old Chattanooga mechanic won with a 7.69-second burst on a 7.68 dial in a borrowed 1969 Dodge Dart, with Fort Payne's David Twilly second in a 1985 Mustang. David Bigham won the Foot Brake class with a 7.66 on a 7.65 dial in a 1969 Dart; Russell Haskins of Marietta was second. Kaleb Winters edged Jake Clayton for Junior Dragster honors. Cynthia Farrow had the top speed (150.25 mph) and low elapsed time (4.50 seconds) of the meet in a new 640-ci Chevy-powered dragster.
Golf
• The Lee University women's golfers finished second in the 18-team Wingate Pinehurst (N.C.) Challenge on Sunday and Monday, 27 strokes behind Armstrong Atlantic State's 638. Lee freshman Cori Burns was fifth and all-tournament with a 159, and sophomore Bernadette Little also made the top 10 at 163.
• The UTC women's golf team shot a 607 Monday and are in seventh place out of 17 teams in the Briar's Creek Invitational at Johns Island, S.C. GRU Augusta had a 596 and leads by four over second-place East Carolina. UTC's Emily McLennan and Agathe Sauzon are tied for 10th individually at 149, and Jordan Britt is tied for 24th at 151.
• Sewanee sophomores Emily Javadi and Alison Eleey were co-golfers of the week in the Southern Athletic Association for their third-place tie in the Jekyll Island Collegiate. Javadi is from Chattanooga and Baylor School.
• Covenant's Cameron Lewis is in fourth place individually after shooting a 73 Monday in the Wynlakes Intercollegiate at the Wynlakes Golf & Country Club in Montgomery, Ala., and the Scots are sixth out of 10 teams at 310, 20 behind leader Wittenberg. Lewis is two strokes behind the co-leaders, and teammates Nate Haney, Scott McKnight and James Van Nice shot 78, 79 and 80.