FGCU signs Olympic swimmer Beaubrun
U.S. Olympic swimmer Danielle Beaubrun has signed a national letter-of-intent with Florida Gulf Coast University.
Beaubrun competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics while representing her home island nation of St. Lucia. She placed 42nd in the 100m breaststroke.
Beaubrun currently is in Rome for the World Championships that begin Sunday.
She won two gold and one silver medal and set two national records at the recent Central American and Caribbean Swimming Championships in Venezuela.
FGCU’s swimming & diving team finished the 2008-09 Atlantic Sun Conference season in first place. The new season begins on Oct. 3 with the Georgia Institute of Technology meet.
All-Star Game MVP: FGCU starting left-handed pitcher Chris Sale was named the pitching MVP for the Cape Cod League All-Star Game after his one inning, no-hit performance (six pitches) last Thursday night at Fenway Park.
After a 22-year absence, the Cape Cod League All-Star Game returned to Fenway. More than 13,000 fans were in attendance for the league’s home run contest and all-star game shortened to 4 1/2 innings by rain, which the West team won 3-0.
Sale leads the Cape Cod League in regular season play with four wins, 47 innings pitched, and 47 strikeouts.
Ave Maria softball: Ave Maria University’s first women’s softball team has added two more players with ties to Southwest Florida.
Signing for the Lady Gyrenes inaugural season in 2009-10 are Kristin Lange (Gulf Coast) and Samantha Crews (Port Charlotte).
Lange, a former Naples resident who spent last year as a softball coach at St. Francis Catholic High School in Gainesville, returns to the field as a student athlete. She was an All-Florida shortstop at Gulf Coast High, batting .543 her senior year.
Crews was an All-Area player at Port Charlotte as the Pirates’ No. 1 pitcher. She won 12 games her senior season with an 0.89 earned run average, and finished her scholastic career with a 40-24 record and 0.95 ERA.