Swanson makes a swift return to St. Anne’s

Alan Swanson is back in a familiar place, despite the fact that just months ago it appeared that the St. Anne’s-Belfield’s baseball coach had hung it up for good.

Now he’s back to piecing together lineups and stalking the Saints’ baseball complex. And at 4-1, he’s clearly picked up right where he left off.

“The kids are working hard and we’re having fun — so far, so good,” Swanson said.

Swanson retired last year after leading the Saints to a 16-win season and a state semifinal appearance, a move of which he’d informed STAB administrators before the season.

But when Swanson’s replacement and former assistant Eric McGrane let Swanson know he was leaving for a coaching job in Ohio after practice had started, Swanson stepped back into the picture.

“I contacted the school and said, ‘If you’re in a pinch, I’d love to come back,’” Swanson said. “It took about 24 hours and it was very easy. I left with a great relationship with the school and STAB baseball, and they were kind of in a lurch.”

Swanson, who’d moved with his wife to New York, is now back to coach the Saints this season. He returns to a talented program that he had a big hand in building, and making sure the older players on the team were taken care of in 2009 was a big reason Swanson made such a swift return.

“When I considered coming back I really wanted continuity for the seniors,” Swanson said. “It would have been disruptive to have someone else come in.”

The Saints’ senior class, which includes Sean Zirkle, Kyle Phillips, Thorne Michaels, Michael Spinosa and Brett Goodloe, gives St. Anne’s solid leadership. Combining them with a host of skilled underclassmen means that Swanson could have a productive encore with the Saints. The squad went 3-1 in four days on a recent stretch, an impressive performance that says a lot about the Saints’ pitching depth.

“Honestly, it’s not the big of a deal coming back here for a couple of months,” Swanson said. “I’m happy in New York and I’m happy here. Being retired you can do stuff like this.”

The Saints are slated to take on St. Christopher’s tonight at 7 p.m.

Western’s Satterwhite bound for William & Mary

Yet another area runner is now slated to continue his career in college.

Western Albemarle’s Kyle Satterwhite joins a banner class of Central Virginia senior runners headed to the college ranks. He’ll run for William & Mary next fall.

Satterwhite, the 2008 Central Virginia cross country runner of the year, finished third in the Group AA meet as well as 20th in the nation in the 5K at the Foot Locker national meet in San Diego in December. At William & Mary, he’ll stretch out to longer races to take advantage of one of his best attributed as a runner — his endurance. Satterwhite has shown signs of only getting better as his races get longer.

The Tribe had a little help on the recruiting trail with Satterwhite. Western assistant coach Charlie Hurt — who also won the 2008 Charlottesville 10 Miler — used to race for William & Mary under head coach Alex Gibby.

But for the Western senior, William & Mary also gave him the total package.

“It was the coaches, the athletes and the distance to home,” Satterwhite said. “And weather was a big part of it.”

Western quarterback Bowman signs on with Glenville State

Apparently, Glenville (W.Va.) State has made this region a recruiting priority.

The Division II school recently added Western Albemarle quarterback Seth Bowman to their area haul, which already included Orange offensive lineman Jon Rasnick and Waynesboro lineman Chaz Crews.

Glenville is an impact player on the Division II scene because it’s the genesis of Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez’ version of the spread offense. Rodriguez coached at Glenville from 1990-1996.

The fact that the Pioneers run the spread was a factor in Bowman’s decision to choose Glenville over Bridgewater and Emory & Henry.

“It was important because I’ve been running the spread for two years now and I like to throw the ball, so I didn’t want to go anywhere where you’d just be handing the ball off constantly,” Bowman said.

Bowman split time with Western junior Stephen Schuler behind center in 2008, and showed off his athleticism at other positions as well for the Warriors.

Bowman pointed to the benefits of Glenville being a small school as another important factor in his decision.

“At Glenville it’s like 18 people to a class, so you get more of that one-on-one time and that’s going to help me a lot,” Bowman said.

He may also pave the way for some more Central Virginia players to matriculate to Glenville State. The ball certainly appears to be rolling for the Pioneers in the region.

Lions see the light

Louisa County’s softball team played in its first game under the lights at its home field this past Friday night, beating Eastern View 11-10 in thrilling fashion in the annual Border War Classic.

The Lions rallied from seven runs down and trailed by as many as five entering the sixth inning. But Louisa went on a tear in the sixth inning to secure the come-from-behind win.

“I think it was really, we just didn’t want to lose under the lights,” said Louisa assistant coach Canaan Perkins after the game. “It was the biggest crowd in Louisa’s home history.”

A Grand Illumination ceremony was held before the game to celebrate the new addition to the field. Numerous businesses and individuals in the community donated money as well as their time to the project, including the Louisa County Parks and Recreation Department and the William A. Cooke Foundation. Lee Downey, Louisa County athletic director, gave a special thanks to Louise Atkins, who helped organize the fundraising efforts for the lights as well as recent field renovations.

The lights were installed in January at no charge by Dominion Virginia Power and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative.

Louisa (1-1) will compete in the Sports Plus Tournament this weekend.

College news

Radford’s Kristen Shifflett earned Big South player of the week accolades earlier this month for her performance at the Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament.

Shifflett, a graduate of Monticello High School, played a key role as the Highlanders went 4-1 at the tournament, which included wins over nationally-ranked Mississippi State and Oregon State.

The sophomore shortstop hit .438 and had five RBI, which including game-winning hits against Santa Clara (HR), Mississippi State (HR) and Oregon State (single). Shifflett posted a hit in all five games she played in and notched multiple hits and multiple RBI in two contests. Against the 25th-ranked Bulldogs, Shifflett hit the eventual game-winning homer in the first inning to put Radford on the board as the Highlanders took the 3-1 win. Radford is 17-6 this season.

Tasmin Fanning, a cross country standout at Virginia Tech, was named the NCAA Division I women’s cross country scholar athlete of the year earlier this month.

The former Western Albemarle standout completed one of the strongest cross country careers in Tech history in 2008. Fanning earned the highest finish in a national meet for a Hokies cross country runner, male or female, in school history. She placed third at the NCAA cross country championships, clocking a career-best time 19:27.1 at the 6K course in Terre Haute, Ind., and became the program’s only runner to win two All-America honors in a career. Fanning, a human nutrition, foods and exercise major, also won the NCAA Southeast Regional in 2008, another first in Tech history.

Along with her scholar athlete of the year honor, Fanning also earned a spot on the USTFCCCA All-Academic squad. Fanning is one of six ACC runners named to the team.

Sewanee men’s lacrosse player Jack Thomasson has been named Tiger of the week for his performance the week of March 16-22.

In the team’s 17-11 win over visiting Oberlin on Sunday, Thomasson, a freshman and St. Anne’s-Belfield graduate, scored six goals. He also recorded an assist and picked up three ground balls. The Tigers were 1-1 on the week and in Wednesday’s loss to Washington and Lee, Thomasson added a goal, two ground balls and two more assists. Thomasson has started all eight games this year for Sewanee and is leading the team with 12 goals and has five assists.