Albany Herald

The Lady Cavs second baseman Amanda Jaskolski is one of five sophomores who end their Darton career’s with 95-18 records.

LOCUST GROVE — The Lady Cavs weren’t able to turn one of their greatest regular seasons into a Region XVII title.

Darton (45-7) was knocked into the losers bracket Saturday and then knocked out in the region title game Sunday afternoon by Gordon, which advances to the NJCAA Division I College World Series in St. George, Utah.

Darton, the 2011 region champs who came into this year’s tournament as the No. 1 seed, run-ruled ABAC, 9-1 in six innings, in Sunday morning’s final game of the loser’s bracket.

The Lady Cavs then handed Gordon a 7-1 loss, sending the championship series into a winner-take-all finale, which Gordon won, 7-5.

Darton’s season, which was highlighted by a school record 30-game winning streak, ended — but it won’t easily be forgotten.

The Lady Cavs lose five sophomores — ace Katy Jordan, pitcher Amanda Cook, outfielder Chantelle Curinton, infielder Erica Vasquez and second baseman Amanda Jaskolski — who end their Darton career’s with 95-18 records.

Jordan, who will continue her collegiate career at East Tennessee State, was one of the top junior college pitchers in the nation the last two years.

Curinton (.398 BA), Vasquez (.374 BA) and Jaskolski (.396 BA) were three of Darton’s best hitters this year.

ASU finishes 3rd in conference tourney

OZARK, Ala. — Pitching carried Albany State in back-to-back upset victories to start the conference tournament.

Pitching also ended up being the Rams’ undoing.

ASU pitchers combined to give up 10 walks and 13 hits Sunday morning against Paine, which knocked the Rams out of the conference tournament with an 11-1 victory.

ASU, which was last year’s conference runner-up, finished third in the tournament, while Paine lost to Stillman in the title game.

The Rams (21-21) had just three hits in the game and committed five errors. Allen Hardy was 1-for-4 with an RBI, while Kareem Hayes and Ryan Latner each had one hit.

Joshua Heinrich picked up the loss after throwing 5 2/3 innings and allowing six walks, seven hits and five runs. Ken Nesbitt, who threw a mind-boggling 190 pitches in a tournament-opening win, pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief and gave up four walks, four hits and five runs.