Colleges

Pitching key to softball team's national tournament ambitions

By DAVID NORRIE
Published January 25, 2005

Tampa's softball team made the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament two of the past three years - in 2002, with the second-best batting average in the Sunshine State Conference, and last season with the league's No. 2 pitching staff.

But both times the Spartans were unable to make it to nationals, a destination coach Leslie Kanter hopes to take the team now with what she calls "her best pitching combo" in her 11 seasons at Tampa.

Twenty-game winner Devlin Dougherty returns to anchor a staff looking to improve its already low 1.08 ERA of a year ago. Two newcomers who should contribute are pitcher Niki Trowell and pitching coach Jaci Davis .

Trowell joins the Spartans as a transfer from Indian River Community College, where she went 13-1 with 127 strikeouts and an 0.69 ERA. in 2001, her senior season at Chamberlain, she led the Chiefs to the Class 5A state championship game. She played her freshman season at South Florida before transferring to IRCC.

Davis replaces veteran pitching coach Marty Roland , who left to devote more time to his primary job. An academic All-American and four-time all-Trans America Athletic Conference pitcher at Georgia State, Davis has spent the past two years as a private pitching instructor running her business in Pinellas.

Last year 10 of her high school clients signed Division I scholarships with three more signing early letters of intent this season.

She says the decision to join UT wasn't difficult.

"I'm extremely excited," Davis said. "After I saw the talent here and what I have to work with I knew it was a done deal. I'm going in expecting to help this team win a national championship."

"I checked around and called a couple of people and Jaci came highly recommended," Kanter said. "She is energetic and likes to win and brings an extra kick to the team."

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: On Wednesday, the Spartans came in at No.2 in the season's first South Region poll behind Valdosta State (13-2). Since then, the Spartans have lost twice, falling to 13-4 overall, 4-2 in the SSC.

After losing at Florida Southern on Wednesday, Tampa fell Saturday to Nova Southeastern, which ended UT's 11-game home winning streak and dropping the Spartans out of first place in the SSC.

UT was held to 56 and 55 points, respectively, well under its league leading scoring average of 65.4 a game.

The good news for the Spartans is that their next three games come against Eckerd, Lynn and Saint Leo, teams that are a combined 20 games under .500.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Tampa's eight-point victory over Nova Southeastern on Saturday was the Spartans' seventh in a row at the Bob Martinez Center and kept them tied for third in the SSC at 3-3.

Forward Chris King led all scorers with a career-high 19 points. He hit 5 of 9 from the field and 9 of 13 from the free-throw line. The freshman from Orlando is fourth on the team in field goal shooting at 53 percent.

Point guard Mark Borders had six assists Saturday, adding to his league-leading total of 133, which is 49 ahead of last season's SSC assist leader, Eric Faber of Rollins.

SCHEDULE NOTE: Start times for the basketball doubleheader on Saturday against Lynn have been changed to accommodate Gasparilla festivities in downtown Tampa. The women's game, originally scheduled for 2 p.m., has been moved to 5:30 and the men's game changed from 4 to 7:30.

[Last modified January 25, 2005, 01:20:40]