Sharkbites

Because of the heavy rains over the weekend, USC Beaufort will push back the times of Monday’s softball games at the Richard Gray Sports Complex in Hardeeville.
The softball doubleheader against Fisher (Mass.) Colege will starts at 4 p.m. The baseball team will still have a single game at 1 p.m., also against Fisher at the Richard Gray Sports Complex.

USC Beaufort's home baseball and softball games scheduled for this weekend against Fisher (Mass.) College have been pushed back two days because of rain in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday.
The teams will instead play Monday and Tuesday at Hardeeville's Richard Gray Sports Complex.
The baseball teams will play a single nine-inning game at 1 p.m. Monday and two seven-inning games beginning at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The softball teams will play two doubleheaders, starting at 1 p.m. Monday and 11 a.m. Tuesday.

USC Beaufort freshman pitcher Kristy Cook and sophomore second baseman Katie Rietkovich have been named the Sun Conference pitcher and player of the week, respectively, by the conference's sports information directors, the first honors for the program that started play this past weekend.

USC Beaufort runners Selena Hutson and Katie Mock, a Ridgeland native, will compete again in the marathon at this year’s NAIA Track and Field National Championships in May after both achieved “A” standard qualifying times Saturday in the Hilton Head Half Marathon.

USC Beaufort's inaugural season begins Saturday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Wesleyan College from Macon, Ga. USCB Chancellor Dr. Jane Upshaw will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Richard Gray Sports Complex in Hardeeville.
And don't forget to check out staff writer Stephen Fastenau's Sand Sharks softball preview in Friday's Hilton Head Island Packet or Beaufort Gazette or online at IslandPacket.com or BeaufortGazette.com.

The USC Beaufort baseball team is off to a nice start. The Sand Sharks are 5-1 after this past weekend's four-game sweep of Mid-Continent (Ky.)
USCB plays on the road at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Division II Flagler in Sat. Augustine, Fla., before returning home for a three-game series against Milligan, a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a noon game Sunday.
Here are a couple of interesting tidbits from the notes package sent out by Justin Jarrett, USCB's sports information director:

Rick Sofield is going pro. Again.

After three seasons as head baseball coach at USC Beaufort, Sofield is leaving the Sand Sharks to return to professional baseball as a coach in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, athletics director Ty Rietkovich said Thursday.

When I asked USCB director of golf Shane LeBaron a few days ago about the search for a new women's golf coach, he said he had zeroed in on a top candidate, and she was "very well connected."

LeBaron and the Sand Sharks got their woman.

The NAIA women's soccer preseason coaches poll was released Tuesday, so I wanted to weigh it against USC Beaufort's schedule and use it as a measure of the level of competition the Sand Sharks will face in their inaugural season.

UPDATED, 7:15 p.m.: Just got off the phone with Deion Williams' father, Dion Williams (a former minor league player himself) and the family is still waiting to hear from the Nationals. They fully intend to listen to the organization's offer, but if the signing bonus isn't what they're looking for, he said his son will be at USCB next season. Stay tuned.

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The issue of signability, so to speak, usually isn't a problem for NAIA baseball programs, but USC Beaufort knew it was onto a special talent with Atlanta-area recruit Deion Williams.

Williams, a shortstop from Redan High School who has signed with the Sand Sharks for next season, was picked up in the 16th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, as I wrote in this story about right-hander Dexter Price becoming the first USCB player drafted.