The Stephen F. Austin State University softball team entered play during the closing weekend of the Southland Conference regular season with a berth in the post-season conference tournament already in hand — the Ladyjacks are 32-21 overall, 17-9 in conference affairs.

And one reason for the SFA success can be attributed to the steady play of former Marshall High School softball sensation Moriah Davis.

Davis, a junior, redshirted last year, her first in Nacogdoches, after playing two seasons at University Texas Tyler where she earned all-division honors at third base as well as being named to the American Southwest Conference's Academic All-American team.

Batting .268 (38-of-142) on the year and having started 49 of her team's 53 outings at shortstop, Davis still wields a wicked stick as she turned in a 3-for-3 performance last Saturday in SFA's 9-0 pasting over conference rival University Texas San Antonio.

Included in the effort was a double to left field in the third inning that drove in a run — Davis has a pair of homers and 19 runs batted in on the year for the Ladyjacks.

She has also crossed the plate 23 times, third highest on the team, while ripping four doubles and two triples.

Davis leads the squad in pinch hitting (2-for-2) as well.

Having started and lettered for four years at Marshall, Davis earned the District 13-4A Most Valuable Player award her senior year while garnering First Team All-District accolades three times.

Davis is an elementary education major.

SFA concludes their regular season this afternoon, hosting Northwestern State University, before opening play later this week in the SLC Tournament to be played at Texas State University in San Marcos.

Carswell vaults his

way to NCAA regional

In 2004 and 2005 as a Marshall Maverick Cory Carswell quarterbacked the football team to a pair of state runner-up finishes — the 2004 edition finished 11-4 while the following year's team ended up 13-3.

On April 19, as a member of the University Texas Arlington Maverick track and field team he turned in a personal best vault of 16-feet 7-inches at the Baylor University/Michael Johnson Classic securing himself a spot at the NCAA Midwest Track and Field Regional, scheduled for May 30-31 in Lincoln, Neb.

Carswell's vault eclipsed his old standard of 15-feet 9-inches.

The 6-foot-3 sophomore is a civil engineering major and is on schedule to graduate in 2010.

Contact sports writer Jay Neal at jneal@coxmnm.com