The Trinity Valley Community College Lady Cardinals celebrate after defeating nationally-ranked Galveston Community College Thursday. (COURTESY PHOTO)
By Benny Rogers/TVCC Sports Information
How ‘bout those Lady Cardinals!
They played bracket buster in the cold, gusting north wind and mist Thursday in the opening round of the Region XIV Conference in Corsicana. The Lady Cardinals, the No. 4 East seed, pulled off a shocker with a 5-2 win against Galveston, the No. 1 South seed and the nation’s eighth-ranked team.
Coach Ashley Johnston’s squad, now 31-23, used a four-run fourth inning to fuel the college’s first-ever regional tournament win and the biggest win in the history of the softball program. The Lady Cardinals were hitless through the first three innings.
Galveston, which defeated the Lady Cardinals 8-0 the first weekend in March, dropped to 42-16.
The Lady Cardinals are scheduled to return to action today against Blinn (32-18). Blinn was a 12-2 winner against the Lady Cardinals in March.
With a win against Blinn, the Lady Cardinals would play at 3 p.m. Saturday against the Paris-Northeast winner. With a loss, they would play at 10 a.m. Saturday against the Alvin-San Jacinto winner.
In Thursday’s other games in the opening round, it was: Northeast 5, San Jacinto 0; Blinn 9, Navarro 1 and Paris 7, Alvin 6.
The top two teams in the tournament qualify for the national tournament May 15-18 in St. George, Utah.
Fifth graders from around Henderson County got some hands-on experience with the outdoors this week thanks to the annual Spring Rendezvous at the Fairpark Complex.
“The Rendezvous is a great opportunity for fifth graders in Henderson County to come out and learn from the professionals regarding conservation, stewardship, water safety, gun safety, and learn about the outdoors,” he said.
Subjects include: Game wardens talking about water safety, fishing, gardening, soil conservation, archery, snakes, and BB gun safety.
Wednesday, students from Athens ISD and Athens Christian Academy were on hand. Thursday (when I was taking photos) saw students from Murchison, Eustace, Cayuga, Malakoff and Cross Roads.
Trinity Valley Community College’ Austin Gross turns in an 82-point ride in the Wharton Junior College Rodeo this past weekend. Gross finished second in the event and earned a No. 3 ranking in Southern Region, earning him a trip to the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., in June. Also representing TVCC at the event will be Wesceslao “Lightning” Aguilera and Kolby Miller. (COURTESY PHOTO)
By Benny Rogers/TVCC Sports Information
It was a big finish for the Trinity Valley Community College rodeo team in the final Southern Region event of the year this past weekend in Wharton.
Austin Gross, a freshman from Arcadia, Fla., turned in an 82-point ride to finish second in the competition. The ride also gave Gross a third-place finish in the regional standings, earning him a trip to the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Casper, Wyo., in June.
Gross will join freshmen Wesceslao “Lightning” Aguilera of Athens and Kolby Miller of Alba at the CNFR. Aguilera and Miller placed seventh in team roping at the Wharton event, but finished ranked No. 1 in the Southern Region to punch their CNFR ticket.
“Considering that these contestants must compete against students from four-year universities at each of these rodeos to finish at the top is quite an accomplishment,” said TVCC rodeo coach Brent Bratton. “I am extremely proud of how our team members worked to stay in those top positions. It was a fight until the end and they did what they needed to do to win.
“We are confident for great things at the College National Finals and hoping to come home with several national champions. The team is so thankful to the supporters in the community. Without them and the support from the administration, they would not be able to live out their dreams.”
TVCC had three other team members finish in the Top 10 of the Southern Region rankings: Justus Whitcher, 8th, steer wrestling; Kacey Kirby, 9th, barrel racing; Garrett Jones, 10th, bareback.
Saturday is a big day for the Cardinals. The annual spring football game is scheduled Saturday at Bruce Field. Action will begin at 10 a.m.
Expected to be in attendance are many of the high school football players who signed with the Cardinals back in February. They’ll be in town to get a first-hand look at their future teammates. If you get a chance to visit with them, please welcome them to The Valley family.
The Cardinals would love to have a big turnout to add to the excitement and intensity of the spring game and give the future Cardinals in attendance a glimpse of fan support to expect.
See you at Bruce Field tomorrow morning!
SOFTBALL
The record-setting Lady Cardinals will be the No. 4 East seed in the regional tournament next week in Corsicana. They will open against the No. 1 South seed Galveston at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
In their final regular season game at home Wednesday against Northeast Texas Community College, the Lady Cardinals scored a 3-0 to establish a school record for wins in a season. The win moved them to 30-23 overall. They were 10-10 in conference.
Northeast Texas was a 7-4 winner in the first game of the doubleheader.
Kim Leschber tossed a four-hitter in Game 2.
Shelby Reddington had a perfect game at the plate in the game, going 3-for-3. Candise Wise went 3-for-4 and had a stolen base. Chyna Phipps was 2-for-3 and drove in a pair of runs.
In Game 1, Jazmine Hicks and Wise had two hits each. Erica Jordan and Phipps had one hit each. Jordan drove in two runs with a double and Phipps stole two bases and drove in a run.
The regional tournament is scheduled May 2-5 at Navarro College.
STRIKEOUT CANCER
The number is in!
Athletic Coordinator Lucy Strom reported Thursday afternoon the Lady Cardinal softball team’s “Strikeout Cancer” event earlier this month raised $1,212.32 for a local cancer fund.
The goal was $1,000.
The Lady Cardinal thank for coming out and making the event a big success.
The volleyball team at Trinity Valley Community College had a memorable 2012-13 semester in more ways than one.
In the fall, Coach Tosha Spain’s squad made school history by qualifying for the regional tournament for the first time in the three-year history of the program.
Tuesday night at the third annual TVCC Sports Banquet, the Lady Cardinals were awarded the Cardinal Cup — the prize for a fall/spring semester-long competition in which the college’s athletic department teams/groups are awarded points for supporting each other and for community service.
The Lady Cardinals edged out the football team by the closest margin in the three-year history of the competition, scoring 606 points for a 34-point winning margin. The football team had 572 points and the softball team was a distant third with 261.
Community service played a big role in the Lady Cardinals’ raising the Cardinal Cup at the banquet. They logged 700 hours of giving back to the community.
“I am proud of the girls for winning (the Cardinal Cup),” Spain said. “They have been doing community service every week since September and have constantly been at other sports’ games supporting their fellow student-athletes.
“The girls love helping the community and attending all the other events on campus.”
As busy as they stayed, Spain said she was especially proud the Lady Cardinals were able to maintain a 3.25 GPA.
“They are an amazing group of girls on and off the court and continue to make me a better person and coach every day.”
The Cardinal Cup, which began in the 2010 fall semester, is designed as a competition to help encourage student-athletes and other organizations at the college to become more involved and the events that take place on campus, not just athletic events. The program was implemented to create a supportive and active fan base of TVCC students to visibly and vocally support performing groups.
In addition to the volleyball, football and softball teams, groups participating in the competition this year were the men’s and women’s basketball teams, cheerleaders and athletic training staff.
The cheerleaders won the inaugural Cardinal Cup in 2011 and the athletic training staff finished first last year.
Here are the final Cardinal Cup standings for 2013:
Volleyball – 606 points
Football – 572 points
Softball – 261 points
Women’s Basketball – 150 points
Cheerleaders– 90 points
Men’s Basketball – 54 points
Trainers – 26 points
The Cardinal Cup trophy is on permanent display in the lobby at Cardinal Gym with the name of the winning group engraved each year.
