Andrew Giermak

Manuel Relancio (Lakeland) came up one stroke shy of being Virginia Commonwealth’s first individual CAA golf champion since 2002 at this past weekend’s conference tournament in Pinehurst, N. C.

Relancio finished as CAA Tournament runner-up during his junior season as well.

Relancio birdied holes 15 and 16 during the final round Sunday and narrowly missed a birdie on 18 that would have forced a playoff against Georgia State’s Mark Haastrup.

Georgia State won the team title by 22 shots over second-place VCU; Relancio was the only non-Georgia State golfer to finish in the top five.

Relancio shot two-over par (70-73-72) for the 54-hole tournament at Pinehurst Resort’s No. 6 Course.

Finishing second out of 11 schools was the best team finish of the season for the Rams.

The VCU golf season is far from done however as the Rams go to College Station, Pa. this weekend and to Charlottesville next weekend before potentially going on to NCAA Regionals (Orlando, Fla.) and the NCAA Championship (Sunriver, Ore.).

Freshman takes USA South honors

Lindsay Kelly (Lakeland) was named Honorable Mention on the All-USA South Softball Team for her freshman season at Christopher Newport.

CNU’s season ended last Friday in the USA South Tournament with a 4-3 loss to Shenandoah.

Kelly’s freshman season wrapped up with a 12-9 record and a 3.52 ERA as she was one of two main starting pitchers for the Lady Captains (23-17 overall).

Kelly threw 12 complete games, one shutout, 121 1/3 innings and had 80 strikeouts.

Former Saint sluggers go head-to-head

Radford’s Jeff Cooper (Nansemond-Suffolk) and VMI’s Robert Crumpler (Nansemond-Suffolk) each played big offensive roles for their clubs last weekend during a three-game series in Lexington.

VMI won the first two games of the series 14-6 and 11-4, but Radford ended a 19-game losing streak by winning the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, 12-7.

In the series, Crumpler was 6-for-15 at the plate, getting two hits in each game, along with hitting his fourth and fifth homers of the season.

Cooper went 4-for-5 with a run and an RBI in the Radford victory.

Cooper has played in 30 games for Radford (5-32) and has the highest batting average of any Highlander regular at .368.

Crumpler, also for his efforts in games against Richmond and Virginia, was named VMI Co-athlete of the Week.

For the season, Crumpler is hitting .364 with 11 doubles and 35 RBI.