First Team/Second Team Honors for Baseball and Softball

Baseball- First Team Panhandle Conference

Tyler Dial, Trevin Hall, Brendan Leach

Baseball-Second Team Panhandle Conference

Matt Miller, Kevin Husum, Ty Downing, Dakota Spikes

Softball-First Team Panhandle Conference

Emily Sanders, Amanda Grimaldo, Anna Martin, Ollivia McLemore, Paige Caraway

Softball-Second Team Panhandle Conference

Brittany Wylie, Katie White, Sian Colee, Mackenzie Arlt

Pitcher of the Year

Ollivia McLemore

Player of the Year

Emily Sanders

Coach of the Year

Susan Painter

Massachusetts police officer revels in chance to see son play baseball

April 21, 2013  21:43 PM

News Herald Staff

PANAMA CITY — The past weekend was about focusing on what’s most important to Jim and Joey McCarthy. Life, family and baseball.

The elder and father, Jim, saw Joey pitch for the first time in more than two years Saturday for Gulf Coast in Tallahassee. The younger McCarthy guided the Commodores to a 6-3 victory in a game where Jim admitted he was likely more nervous than his right-handed offspring. It highlighted and softened a week that began with Jim, a Massachusetts police officer for 32 years, working into the late hours of the night Monday during and after the Boston Marathon bombing.

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Gulf Coast wins sixth Panhandle Conference softball title

April 18, 2013  23:04 PM

News Herald Staff

PENSACOLA — Susan Painter has been looking for a reason to dance since 2006. On Thursday, her Gulf Coast softball team gave her that reason.

The Lady Commodores swept homestanding Pensacola 13-5, 9-2 in a doubleheader to clinch the Panhandle Conference championship. It was GC’s first conference crown in seven seasons and Painter’s sixth in her 19 years as the Lady Commodores’ fastpitch coach. GC, the state’s No. 1 team and ranked second in the nation, will next seek a Gulf District title and a national tournament berth in May’s state tournament, which also will be held in Pensacola.

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Smith Drafted by Connecticut Sun

April 15, 2013

USF Athletics

The next step of the journey began Monday night for USF senior guard Andrea Smith.

With the 35th overall selection of the WNBA draft, the Connecticut Sun selected Smith, making Andrea the second women's basketball player in USF history to be drafted into the WNBA.

"I'm really excited and humbled by the opportunity, but I'll still have to work to make the final roster," Smith said. "So there will be plenty of hours left to put in at the gym, but I'm just kind of speechless right now."

Smith became the first Bull since Jessica Dickson's second-round selection to be named on draft night, but Andrea's draft experience wasn't quite the norm.

"To be honest, I didn't get to watch it because the channel was blacked out," Smith said.

Instead, it was her brother who called to tell her the good news.

"I picked up the phone and he said 'congratulations,' and I said 'for what?'" Smith said. "After he told me, my hands just kind of started to shake, and then the texts and phone calls started to pour in."

Leading the Bulls in scoring with 538 points in the 2012-13 season, Smith will transition to a Connecticut team with a lot of familiar faces, including one of her BIG EAST opponents this year, in UCONN's Kelly Faris.

"We'll have a few BIG EAST Alumni on that team I'll be familiar with, so that will be a nice starting point for me," Smith said.

The Sun have six UCONN alums on roster, and are coached by former Seton Hall coach Anne Donovan. The 2013 season begins May 25, with preseason games starting on May 11.

Taylor, Sterling named to all-tourney team

March 25, 2013  21:05 PM

News Herald Staff

PANAMA CITY — Gulf Coast women’s basketball players Tamara Taylor and Necole Sterling each were named to the NJCAA all-tournament team following the national tournament that concluded on Saturday.

The Lady Commodores placed fourth overall at nationals, falling 63-61 to Hutchinson (Kan.) in the consolation finals.

Taylor averaged 17.5 points a game through the tournament, and Sterling averaged 16.5 points, including 26 in the national semifinals against Trinity Valley (Texas).

GC's Taylor named Panhandle Player of the Year,

Men's Frazier and Rodriguez voted First Team

March 6, 2013

Gulf Coast’s Tamara Taylor was a near-unanimous selection as the media’s All-Panhandle Conference women’s basketball player of the year in voting results released Wednesday.

Taylor, a 5-foot-9 guard headed to the University of South Florida, was joined on the all-conference first team by teammate Jessica Morton, who garnered freshman of the year honors. Necole Sterling was an honorable mention selection. GC coach Vernette Skeete was tabbed the conference’s coach of the year.

Taylor averaged 21.6 points and 4.1 rebounds a game during the regular season, and she finished one voting point shy of being a unanimous pick for player of the year. Morton was second on the team in scoring at 15.7 points per game. Sterling averaged 11.4 points a game.

Sophomores Jose Rodrigues and Chad Frazier each were named to the all-conference first team on the men’s side. GC teammate Devon Baulkman was a second-team selection for the Commodores, who finished their season 20-9 overall.

Rodrigues, a 6-5 swingman, averaged 17.5 points and 6.6 rebounds for GC. Frazier, a 6-4 point guard, contributed with 15.6 points, 4.7 assists and 3.9 rebounds a game. Baulkman, who finished second in voting for freshman of the year behind Northwest Florida State’s Elgin Cook, led all conference freshmen in scoring with 15.5 points per game.