At Brenau, approximately one in every nine students is an athlete. While the bulk of the softball team comes from Georgia, the tennis team is practically the United Nations. Each of the seven players is from a different country: Argentina, Malaysia, Singapore, England, Russia, Armenia and Colombia...
When the Women’s College of Brenau University launched its softball program six years ago, coach Devon Thomas didn't have enough players to field a proper team.
He put up flyers on the school grounds, hoping to recruit students. "I was walking the campus to find athletes," Thomas said. "'Who's interested in playing softball? Who's played softball before?'"
The coach discovered a couple of walk-ons, but had only one good pitcher and the Golden Tigers wound up with a 2-37 record.
This week, the softball team cracked the NAIA Top 25 poll for the first time in school history, sliding in at No. 16.
Softball also became the third Brenau team to rate in the Top 20 in the 2008-09 season, an unprecedented feat for the 900-student Women’s College. The tennis team currently ranks No. 14 and the swimming team ended its season in early March in a tie for 19th place at the national championships.
Brenau University comprises the Women’s College with more than 900 students, and its co-educational graduate and undergraduate programs in Gainesville, three other Georgia locations and online for a total of more 2,700 students. Only the residential liberal arts school, Brenau Women’s College, competes in intercollegiate athletics.
"My freshman year, we were just a women's college," said senior softball player Nicole Burt of Madison. "Nobody knew our name or who we were – or cared. Now, we’ve really made a name for ourselves. They realize we really are a decent team.
"And some teams are even scared of us now."
Hard work, support from President Ed Schrader’s administration – including increased scholarships – and diligent recruiting have turned the softball team into a top contender in the Southern States Athletic Conference. Thomas has already signed seven recruits for next year's team.
When it comes to recruiting, success on the field has put Brenau on more equal footing with coed schools.
"The hardest part for me recruiting-wise is telling them we're a women's college," Thomas said. "Since the rankings came out, I've had eight e-mails about the program. There was a time I couldn't get anybody to talk to me, and now I average about 10 inquiries every week."
Pitcher Cassie Lassiter even transferred from Troy University, an NCAA school, to play her senior season at Brenau. She joins senior pitcher Marisa Litster in making a formidable duo on the mound.
The softball team opened the season with a 10-0 record and defeated No. 16 Martin Methodist (Tenn.), and No. 14 Houston-Victoria in the Orange Coast Invitational recently. The Tigers lost 2-0 to No. 8 St. Gregory's, despite a no-hitter pitched by Lassiter. Their only other loss was to No. 13 William Carey in the tournament.
“They didn't think we'd be that good, and I guess we proved them wrong,” said freshman Ellen Black of Toccoa.
The softball team stayed undefeated in conference play Friday after taking both games of a doubleheader from Emmanuel 8-1 and 7-1 and putting the overall record at 15-2, 4-0 in SSAC. Litster pitched a complete game in game two after getting a double at the plate in game one. Morgan Smith was 2-for-4 with a home run for Brenau in Game 1. Lynn Groves was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Brooke Borders, Brooke Bryant and Black each had two hits and Smith and Groves each had a home run Game 2.
Brenau hosts Reinhardt at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Lanier Point Softball Complex in Gainesville.
Unlike the softball team, the Brenau tennis team has enjoyed a top-flight reputation for about 15 years. The Golden Tigers even won the national championship in 1999 and 2002. Last year’s team missed qualifying for nationals, but coach Gordon Leslie’s squad appears to be back on track.
“We’re all together for the same goal,” said senior Tati Aranguren of Colombia, the team captain. “They know that we will fight until the end.”
The swimming team’s Top 20 finish was all the more remarkable because coach Gabby Matthews had only five swimmers on her team.
And that’s not all. The soccer team gained national recognition last fall as one of the teams receiving votes in the NAIA poll and with strong local recruiting the basketball and volleyball teams show promise for the future.
Such athletic excellence is making an impression.
"I think it's enhanced the whole atmosphere on campus," said Mike Lochstampfor, the soccer coach who succeeded Leslie as athletics director in February. "Prior to this, we were more known in other extracurricular areas, like having a strong theater program. This new scholar-athlete program has broadened the scope of the university much more. We still have a strong arts program but, now the Brenau artists include athletes."
Making the glory sweeter, Schrader received notice from the College Swimming Coaches Association this week that the entire swim team had earned Academic All American honors for the fall semester. That means the team’s GPA average exceeded 3.0. The Brenau athletes as a whole have a 3.2 grade point average, which is better than the school’s average of 3.0. The tennis team’s GPA is even higher at about 3.6.
“We try to recruit people who are academically strong,” Leslie said. “They tend to stay and be more focused.”
At Brenau, approximately one in every nine students is an athlete. While the bulk of the softball team comes from Georgia, the tennis team is practically the United Nations. Each of the seven players is from a different country: Argentina, Malaysia, Singapore, England, Russia, Armenia and Colombia.
“We’ve found it very difficult to get American girls,” Leslie said. “Many of them are more familiar with Division I NCAA teams. Sometimes they go to an NCAA school just to sit on the bench. It doesn't make sense. We’re just as strong as an NCAA school (Brenau has beaten several NCAA teams in the past 3 years) and they get to PLAY at Brenau.”
Leslie finds some through personal contacts and others through referrals. He then watches videos and recruits the players over the telephone.
“One of the more important aspects is not necessarily how good they are,” he said. “It's whether they will fit in, what they're like as a human being. If you get somebody who's a real pain in the neck, it affects the whole team. You have to be a pretty good judge of character over the phone.”
Now that the softball team is seeing what life is like at the top, they want to stay there.
“Our goal is to make the Top 10, but we can’t let teams sneak up on us,” Thomas said. “When you get that number beside your name, everybody comes shooting for you.”
Karen Rosen, a long-time sports reporter for The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, is a freelance writer in Decatur, Ga.