In a year where we have sought the remarkable in Flying Fleet Athletics, we have seen it. From senior Sandra Campbell being named the Conference Carolinas Volleyball "Player of the Year," to senior women's basketball player Porsha Morgan being named the conference's "Player of the Year" and Division II All-American, to senior tennis player Vincent Chauvette, the 2012 recipent of the Murphy-Osborne Award for being the top student-athlete in Conference Carolinas. Yes, we have seen the remarkable but with all the great efforts of our seniors, leave it to a freshman to steal the spotlight for one of the most remarkable achievements in Beville Cup history. Ronnie Funk became an Erskine folk hero on a cool April Friday night when he drained a 43 foot putt on the final green to give Erskine the Beville Cup against Anderson University. The competion between the two schools came down to one long putt, a miss and Anderson would retain the cup for a third straight year but instead Ronnie's heroic make brought the cup back to Due West. It was the sort of drama only scripted in Hollywood where the Spartanburg product was the only Erskine player left on the course and basically the weight of Erskine Athletics on his shoulders. As Ronnie would say afterwards, "I knew it was important because there were so many people around, but I wasn't nervous because I knew God was in charge."
While Ronnie proved to be the last man standing others deserve much credit for allowing him to get to that position. The Erskine women's golf team dominated Anderson in their match-up and one day earlier the Erskine softball team picked up a huge point when catcher Larissa Shannon hit a dramatic walk-off home run. The Erskine baseball team and the women's tennis team also picked up key wins against Anderson this spring and let's not forget the Fleet men's soccer team's upset win over the nationally ranked Trojans in October. The Beville Cup would not even be close if Erskine student-athletes didn't dominate the academic points of the competition. It took so many remarkable efforts to win the Beville Cup by 1/2 point. It was exciting to watch. Spring sports tournaments start next week. I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of remarkable efforts this year. Go Fleet!!
