Lewellen, Ellis honored as Conference USA’s best

The two most important things in softball are hitting and pitching. USF has started the 2003 season posting a 16-4 record, winning 10 straight due in big part to its leading hitter and pitcher.

Courtney Lewellen and Leigh Ann Ellis were awarded Conference USA Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, Monday.

Lewellen, the Bulls’ senior catcher, received her second C-USA Hitter of the Week honor by leading the Bulls past Radford, Seton Hall, Indiana, Hofstra and Maryland during the USF Holiday Inn Tournament.

Lewellen went 10-for-15 for a .667 average with a double and a home run while driving in four runs.

With her last strikeout coming on Jan. 25, Lewellen leads the team with a .481 average, 25 hits and 13 walks.

Ellis was 4-0 for a 1.48 ERA through 28 innings this weekend for the Bulls.

During the USF Holiday Inn Tournament, Ellis pitched back-to-back 10-plus strikeout games against Seton Hall and Hofstra, striking out 35.

The junior transfer from Tennessee came one strikeout short against Seton Hall of breaking the USF single-game record of 17 set by Tracy Meade against Bethune-Cookman in 1990.

Host Bulls 3rd at Wittcoff Invitational

The USF men’s golf team’s score of 297 in the Dick Wittcoff Invitational was good enough for the best score of the day Sunday, but it wasn’t enough to hurdle the Bulls past Jacksonville State.

USF’s final score of 907 was good enough for third in this weekend’s 54-hole tournament.

Jacksonville State finished first with a score of 902, and UCF finished the tournament in second place, scoring 905.

Ryan Shears, who finished eighth overall by shooting 224, was USF’s highest finisher.

Behind Shears was Oscar Fraustro, who tied for No. 9 by shooting 225.

USF had a third player finish in the top 15, as Dan Grassman scored 227 to tie for 14th place.

Rounding out the Bulls’ scoring were Josh Lampley and Matt Lemma, who scored 240 and 242 for 49th and 50th places, respectively.

Ruling on Toren’s appeal today

The USF men’s basketball team could have one of its finest moments of the season this afternoon, as after months of waiting, the Bulls will find out if 6-foot-3 guard Raphael Toren is finally eligible to play.

Toren is a walk-on freshman who arrived at USF in December after playing for a professional team in Israel.

On Jan. 17, the NCAA ruled Toren ineligible to play collegiate basketball because they considered his agreement in Israel to be a professional contract.

After the ruling, the Bulls filed an appeal with the help of outside lawyers trying to get Toren on the court.

Steve Horton, USF’s associate athletic director in charge of compliance, Toren and the NCAA will meet in a conference call today at 1 p.m. Toren’s father will also be on the phone to possibly take questions.

According to NCAA policies each party will receive 10 minutes to discuss the case, then an additional five minutes before the NCAA will meet and deliberate.

Bryan Fazio