NGCSU Spirit

All students, the new "NGCSU Spirit" rules and regulations are posted. We will have the rewards posted before the first contest of the season. Make sure you check all schedules to make sure you are in attendance.

The draft and other thoughts

Sitting through two days of the draft will make you stop and realize how many good players there are in the world of high school and college baseball. Thus year alone, there were 63 players selected from NCAA Division II schools. Out of those 63 players, North Georgia faced eight of those players (albeit four were from the Peach Belt Conference). The Saints played Delta State University, who had two players drafted, but they did not face 11th round pick Brett Durand (third in Division II with 117 strikeouts this past season). The Statesmen also had Jareck West, an outfielder, drafted in 25th round by the Oakland A's. In two games against North Georgia, West was 3-for-7 at Paterson Field. The other two non-conference players that the Saints faced were James Pruitt (23rd round by Oakland) of the University of Montevallo and Jordan Towns (25th round by LAA Angels) of the University of West Georgia. Pruitt went 1-for-2 against North Georgia, while Towns did not toe the rubber in either of the two losses to the Saints. The four players from the conference that the Saints faced this season were Andrew Reichard (13th round by San Francisco) and Michael Antonini (18th round by New York Mets) of GCSU, Dylan Owen (20th round by New York Mets) Francis Marion and Jeremy Horst (21st round by Cincinnati) of Armstrong Atlantic.

In other news, if there have been any recent articles featuring alumni of the North Georgia College & State University athletic department, please feel free to send those stories and links to the Sports Information Office and we will post those on our alumni site.

Also, all schedules have been posted (with the exception of tennis), and we will host our first Fan Day for any sport on August 11 as we have Soccer Fan Appreciation Day from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the soccer complex. Look to the website for more information.

Changes to the Website

Many of you will notice there have been a few changes to the website, mainly for users. In addition
to this new blog site, we have added a new facilities page, Saints in the Pros section and a new Marketing/Promotions scheme in hopes of corporate sponsorship. We have also added a ticket section for those of you who would like to purchase season tickets for basketball.

Probably the best thing on the new site is the Top 10 Moments in 2006-07. The section debuted last season, and with careful thought and consideration (with the assistance of a quite a few people), we have selected the Top 10 Moments at North Georgia for this season.

Be sure to check out all the new additions and changes to the website when you get a chance.

We have three former student-athletes who are competing at the professional level this season: Richie Daigle (A-ball with San Diego), Brian Lauderdale (Low-A with San Diego) and Irina Watkins running for the Indiana Invaders. Make sure to keep track of their progress at the bottom of the front page of our site.

North Georgia finishes milestone season

This is the first entry on to the new North Georgia blog site. Enjoy!

As Michael N. Castle, State Representative for Delaware, put milestones into words, the North Georgia College & State University athletic department put milestones into print in the 2006-07 athletic seasons.

Justin Rickett

Castle, addressing Delaware State, once said, “I think this is one of the greatest strengths of this school. Not only do students go on to achieve great milestones in their own lives, they never forget their roots and the school that gave them the chance they needed to improve their lives and their families’ lives.”

That same motto could be used for North Georgia this past season as they graduated seven student-athletes in December and May, and set new standards for any upcoming class that walks the hallowed halls in Dahlonega.

For instance, not only did North Georgia student-athletes make their marks on the record books, but they also enabled three coaches to reach once-unreachable milestones of their own.

The coaching milestones began in December and went through the month of May, as women’s basketball coach Buffie Burson notched her 300th career coaching victory at the institution with a 79-50 victory over Claflin University on December 29. The milestone kept coming for the coaching staff as head baseball coach Tom Cantrell notched his first of two on the season, notching his 300th career victory at North Georgia with a 2-1 victory over West Alabama on February 10. Softball coach Mike Davenport became the next coach to grab a milestone when he recorded his 250th victory at North Georgia with an 8-2 victory over Barton on March 4. The final milestone reached this season by the coaching staff at North Georgia, came courtesy of a 5-2 upset over then-eighth ranked Georgia College & State University, giving Cantrell his 500th victory overall.

Ironically, all of the coaching milestones were reached on the road this season.

Megan Huffman

Coaching milestones were not the only members of the athletic department that reached a milestone this season, as two members of the women’s basketball team reached the pinnacle of scoring by connecting for their 1000th career point. Junior guard/forward Megan Huffman and junior forward Kourtney Singleton each reached the plateau in the same game, against USC Upstate on January 31 in front an estimated 2,500 fans. Huffman has scored all of her points at North Georgia, while Singleton scored the majority of her points at Emmanuel College. The women’s basketball program went on to place two players on the Peach Belt All-Conference Team (Syretha Marble and Huffman), and were awarded their third consecutive Freshman of the Year Award (Porsha White) at the conclusion of the season.

The Saints softball program rewrote portions of their own record book, as well as the Peach Belt Conference record book this past season. As a team, the Saints tied two records in the homerun category by hitting five grand slams this season, and by connecting for three homeruns in an inning against Belmont Abbey on February 16. Freshman shortstop Leslee Smith tied four records this season for an individual, while Whitney Propes did the same with three records. At the conclusion of the season, the Saints placed four players on the All-Conference Team in Smith, Propes, Andrea Moss and Page Raynor.

The baseball program joined the ranks of rewriting the record books this season, as seniors Justin Rickett and Creston Warner continued their assault on the top ten. Rickett became the school’s all-time leader in homeruns, runs batted in and hit by pitch in the final two weeks of the season, while Warner will finish in the top five in homeruns and runs batted in. Rickett will also finish in the top ten in six other categories.

While the coaching milestones were reached on the road, all but one of the milestones reached by student-athletes this season were completed at home.

The baseball program added two more major awards in the postseason when Cantrell grabbed the Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year Award, while Craig Brisson added the Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Year Award at the conclusion of the season.

Propes and Chris Curtis were named Second-Team All-Region in the respective sports. Freshman catcher Daniel Petitti was named to the South Atlantic Region Gold Glove Team at the conclusion of the season, due in part to defensive effort.

The athletic department placed 13 players on All-Conference Teams, and two more on All-Tournament Teams. In addition to the six placed by women’s basketball and softball, the women’s soccer team added three (Brittney Bruner, Kelly Orear and Lauren Cappy), men’s soccer added one (Jeremy Bouasy), cross country added one (Alan Schmitz), baseball added one (Chris Curtis) and men’s basketball added one (Jay Anderson). In addition, Kelly Curran (women’s soccer) and Sheldon Best (men’s soccer) were named to their respective All-Tournament teams.

If 2006-07 is any indication of things to come for the athletic department at the NCAA Division II level, the record books better watch out as milestones will continue to be set with some student-athletes all ready poised to enter them next season.