Softball dominance part of strong spring

The University of North Georgia (UNG) softball team won its ninth straight Peach Belt Conference (PBC) regular-season and tournament titles and will host the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Tournament as the No. 1 seed.

UNG (54-6) opens the NCAA tournament at 2 p.m. May 11 against No. 8 seed King University (35-22) at Haines and Carolyn Hill Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park. Other teams in UNG's four-team pod of the double-elimination first weekend of the Southeast Regional are No. 4 seed Columbus State University (44-14) and No. 5 seed Lincoln Memorial University (36-23). Tickets for the regional, which runs through May 13, are available on the UNG Athletics website.

The team that advances will play in the Southeast Super Regional May 18-19, and Super Regional winners advance to the NCAA championship in Chattanooga, Tennessee. If it advances from the first weekend, UNG will host a Super Regional.

"We are excited to have an opportunity to continue to play together just one more day," UNG head coach Mike Davenport said. "You can't get caught looking ahead at this point when you have the best 64 teams in the nation competing for an opportunity to get to Chattanooga."

The Nighthawks were ranked No. 2 nationally entering the final weekend of the PBC tournament and spent multiple weeks as the No. 1 overall team this season.

UNG defeated Columbus State 9-3 on May 5 and 12-2 on May 6 in Columbus, Georgia, to win the PBC championship series. A weekend earlier, the Nighthawks bounced back from a PBC tournament opener loss to USC Aiken with victories against Georgia College and Georgia Southwestern and a pair of wins versus USC Aiken.

"The thing I am most proud of with this team is how unselfish they have been since day one back in August. In the world of athletics there can, at times, be a sense of entitlement with athletes, but this group is quite the opposite," Davenport said. "Their unselfishness has given them the freedom to support each other and to reach their full potential as true student-athletes and in the true essence of being great teammates."

Davenport, in his 23rd season leading the program, earned his 1,000th coaching victory March 6 against Barry University.

Nine softball players were All-PBC performers. Pitcher Tybee Denton, pitcher/designated player Sophie Mooney, catcher Georgia Blair, infielder Hannah Forehand, infielder Gracie Mixson, outfielder Sydney Blair, and outfielder Jolie Lester were first-team honorees. Pitcher Delaney Heaberlin and outfielder Mariah Wicker were second-team honorees.

Men's golf team earns regional trip

For the third year in a row and the third time in program history, the No. 4 UNG men's golf team has earned a bid to the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional. The program will be looking to punch its ticket to the NCAA championship, which it reached for the first time in 2022.

UNG claimed the No. 2 seed out of the Southeast and will advance to the regional tournament set for May 11-13 at Grande Oaks Golf Club in Davie, Florida.

Other teams earning a bid from the Southeast include, in order, No. 1 Anderson, No. 9 Georgia Southwestern, No. 10 Clayton State, No. 11 Lincoln Memorial, No. 23 Barton, No. 25 Lander, No. 13 Carson-Newman, Limestone, and USC Aiken. 

Evan Thompson earned PBC Player of the Year honors, with Will Chambless and Noah Zediker honored as first-team All-PBC performers. Head coach Bryson Worley was PBC Coach of the Year for the second season in a row.

Ananthasane makes regional, which UNG will host

For the third consecutive year, UNG women's golfer Maddie Ananthasane has earned an individual spot in the NCAA Division II Women's Golf South Regional.

In conjunction with the Greater Gainesville Sports Alliance, UNG will serve as host of the NCAA Division II Women's Golf South Regional at Gainesville's Chattahoochee Golf Club from May 8-10. 

Ananthasane is seeded second in the tournament.

The 12 teams set to convene in Gainesville to contend for a regional title are Lynn, Nova Southeastern, Anderson, Rollins, Tampa, Lee, Limestone, Barry, Flagler, Wingate, Lander, and UNC Pembroke.

Ananthasane was a first-team All-PBC performer, and Amari Smith was second-team All-PBC.

Tennis teams each earn NCAA tournament win

Both the UNG men's and women's tennis teams earned first-round NCAA tournament wins before ending their seasons in second-round defeats. The UNG women hosted their two postseason matches.

The ninth-ranked UNG women (16-7) defeated the University of Mount Olive 4-0 before falling 4-1 to No. 18 Columbus State. A little more than a week earlier, the team reached the PBC championship match against Flagler College.

UNG's men's team (9-9) earned a 4-0 home victory against No. 22 Augusta University in the NCAA first round before losing 4-0 to No. 4 Columbus State in the second round.

For the women's team, Viktorie Wojcikova and Johanna Lippert were a first-team All-PBC doubles pairing, with Wojcikova a first-team All-PBC singles player and Lippert and Anna Markvartova earning second-team All-PBC singles honors.

On the men's team, Joaquin Bennett was a first-team All-PBC performer in singles and paired with Cole Brainard as a first-team All-PBC doubles group.

Kent Norsworthy, who coaches both tennis teams, in March earned his 200th victory with the women's program.

Stoudenmire wins 800-meter PBC title

Ella Stoudenmire won the 800-meter PBC championship with a time of 2:16.74, serving as the top performer as UNG finished in sixth overall at the PBC track and field championships April 20-21 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Stoudenmire also finished third in the 1,500 meters.

Emily McBride took second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Karmen LeRoy was named to the league's All-Sportsmanship team.

Lassiat wins Elite 16 Award

The UNG baseball team finished its season 29-24 overall and 16-14 in PBC action.

Nighthawks pitcher Jacob Lassiat earned the PBC baseball Elite 16 Award, which is given at each of the 16 PBC championships to the student-athlete competing in the championship with the highest cumulative GPA, for the second season in a row. 

On March 4 against Augusta University, head coach Tom Cantrell earned his 800th win at UNG.