For the second straight year, the East Texas A&M University women’s golf team finished second at the Southland Conference Championships, powered by Marie Baertz tying for second at the Kissing Tree Golf Club.
The Lions came into Wednesday’s final round in sixth place but tied for the lowest team score in the third round among the eight participating schools to climb to a tie for second place.
“What an emotional roller coaster that one was,” said director of golf Brian Dolehide. “I’m so proud of the resilience in our group of girls. After the first round we were in last place and fought our way back to second place!”
“Very special shoutout to Fahsai for coming in ninth place individually and especially Marie B for getting on the podium and finishing second place individually!”
East Texas A&M tied with HCU with a total score of 902 in the three-round tournament, finishing 17 strokes behind A&M-Corpus Christi, who won the SLC Championship and clinches an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
The Lions finished second at the SLC Championships last season as well. The second-place finish is tied for the best finish at a conference meet in program history. The women’s golf program becomes the first program at East Texas A&M to record back-to-back second place finishes since joining the Southland.
Individually for the Lions, Marie Baertz (Luxembourg) tied for second on the individual leaderboard, finishing two strokes back of Augusta’s Zoe Pinillos, who won the individual medal and qualifies an individual into the NCAA Tournament.
Baertz shot an even-par 72 to total a score of 216 (74-70-72), while Pinillos shot a 214 in the tournament. Baertz tied with HCU’s Natcha Makmanee. The tied-for-second finish is the best by an individual at the conference meet since joining the SLC.
Source and photo credit: lionathletics.com
