Batson, Thornton To Wrap Careers In Maroon And White At SEC Championship
AUBURN, Ala. – With a combined 197 rounds over 70 tournaments, Lady Bulldog seniors Mallory Batson and Erika Thornton look to wrap their careers in Maroon and White with a stellar finish in the SEC Championship at the par-72, 6,364-yard University Club at Yarbrough Farms in Auburn.
A native of Gadsden, Ala., Batson is appearing in her career-high 10th tournament of the season. She owns a 77.61 career stroke average and six top-25 finishes, including a career-high 9th-place finish her sophomore year at the Johnie Imes Invitational. For the 2010-2011 campaign, she leads the Lady Bulldogs with 48 birdies, and her hole-in-one during the final regular season tournament highlights her senior season.
“I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to play collegiate golf here at State,” she said. “The time has flown by, and I can't believe I am finishing up my senior year. I couldn't have asked for better coaches or teammates during my time here. They have made this experience one I will cherish for a lifetime.”
Thornton hails from Knoxville, Tenn., where her superb high school career was only a sign of success to come. She is currently seventh all-time in career stroke average in Lady Bulldog history (76.89), and she also currently owns the 10th-best scoring clip for a season with a 75.92 average. She has played in 36 tournaments over her career, finishing atop the MSU leaderboard 17 times. During the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons, she maintained streak of nine consecutive tournaments in which she led the lady linksters in scoring. Thornton highlighted her senior campaign tying for first in the Memphis Women’s Intercollegiate.
“Playing golf at Mississippi State has been one of the best experiences of my life,” she said. “State has become more than just a school to me; it is who I am. I will forever bleed maroon and white. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to attend MSU and will miss it. I am so honored to have played under two great coaches, Christi Sanders and Ginger Brown-Lemm. They both have taught me a lot not only about golf, but about life as well.”
Under the direction of first-year head coach Ginger Brown-Lemm, the Lady Bulldogs have made remarkable strides back toward the postseason. The team posted the program’s second-best 54-hole score of 883 at the Price’s Give ‘Em Five Invitational, and the Maroon and White have earned the sixth-best tournament average (309.24). The senior duo has been instrumental in the Lady Bulldogs improvement this season. Thornton and Batson are first and second, respectively, in scoring average.
Also making the tournament for the Lady Bulldogs are sophomore Maria Roos and freshmen Mary Langdon Gallagher and Esther Huffman.
Roos is making her career-high eighth tournament appearance of the season. She sports the team’s fourth-best scoring clip at 79.50, and managed to finish tied for 22nd in highly competitive field at the LSU Tiger Classic.
The freshmen pair has wasted no time making their splash on the collegiate golf circuit. Gallagher’s 4th-place finish at the John Kirk/Panther Intercollegiate is the second-best finish by a lady linkster this season, while Huffman’s 79.09 scoring clip is the team’s third-best.
The women’s SEC Championship returns to Auburn for the first time since 1999, when the Lady Bulldogs finished with a 7th-place, 949 card.
With seven teams in the Top 25, the tournament field will be one of the toughest MSU has faced this season. Third-ranked Alabama leads the SEC’s rankings followed by No. 8 LSU, No. 11 Georgia, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 17 Auburn and No. 21 Vanderbilt. Other SEC school rankings include No. 26 Florida, No. 37 South Carolina, No. 41 Ole Miss and No. 54 Kentucky.
First-round action begins at 8:00 a.m. CT Friday. Live stats will be available through www.mstateathletics.com.