SPORTS BRIEFS

Author: ZAMIR AHMED & TOM McCANN, SPORTS EDITORS

Women's golf takes home gold

After recording a seventh-place finish in its first tournament of the spring season, the Middlebury women's golf team fared considerably better in its second tournament. The Panthers returned to Middlebury having captured the Jack Leaman's Women's Championship, held at Amherst. The women built upon last year's success at Amherst, where they placed second the 13-team Northeast Championship in the spring.

The two most outstanding performances came from senior Sally Hartman and junior Heather Gallagher, both recording scores of 82. While they were both two shots behind the leader, they finished joint-third on the day. Karen Levin '08 and Julie Ellenberger '09 came home tied for 13th place, signing their scorecards for totals of 87.

Next up for the Panthers is the Northeast District Shootout, a two-day event to be held at Williams on Apr. 29-30. While this will be their first trip to Williamstown this year, the women have reason to be extremely optimistic, having had great success there last year. On the three occasions the Panthers traveled south last season, they came back having achieved a first-place finish. No doubt they will be looking for history to repeat itself this weekend.



Dinner honors baseball alumni

Last Friday, alumni spanning 50 years of Middlebury baseball returned to campus for "A Celebration of Middlebury Baseball," an event which included a banquet on Friday night, following the first of three games against Amherst. The initial impetus for the celebration came from Andrew Pavoni '06, who gave a brief introduction, before Karl Lindholm '67, an assistant professor of American literature and former Middlebury baseball player, gave a presentation of the history of Middlebury baseball. With the information that he compiled, Lindholm also prepared a book that details the development of the team through the years.

The keynote address was provided by Frank Burke '83, who is now the President of the Chattanooga Lookouts, Cincinnati's AA minor league team. Burke shared his experiences on the baseball team and discussed how he found his way into baseball as a career. He was one of a number of alumni who returned to Middlebury for the banquet, an event that was funded by family of current players, and alumni, both present and absent. The celebration was undoubtedly a huge success, and underlined the long tradition of support for one of Middlebury's most celebrated athletic programs.



Cricket Club steps up to bat

The Middlebury Cricket Club will continue its season this Sunday when it takes on the Chittenden County Cricket Club (CCC) at 11 a.m. at Kohn Field. The match will be the team's fourth this season and second against the CCC, which is composed of cricket-playing adults living in Burlington. In the earlier match-up, the CCC was too strong for the Panthers and won easily, though the score was closer than in previous battles between the teams.

The Panthers have also played matches this season against teams closer to their age, taking on Dartmouth College and Williams College the past two weeks. Middlebury traveled to Hanover, N.H. on April 9, losing a close match to the Big Green, a disappointing finish considering the Panthers won the only match-up between the teams last year.

Middlebury looked sharp in their April 16 match against Williams at home, dominating from start to finish. The Panthers racked up an astounding 427 runs in their 25 overs. Wasil Mohar '06 led the squad with an incredible 258 runs scored off his bat. The Panther bowlers made sure the team would come out on top, getting the Ephs all out after only 96 runs.

The cricket club is aimed at promoting cricket, a popular worldwide sport but relatively unknown in the United States, on the Middlebury campus. Practice with the squad is open to all interested students.