By MOLLIE BROWN / Community Columnist

Calera High School graduates Trent Posey (2010) and Paul Winterbottom (2008) attended Stillman College in Tuscaloosa this past school year. Posey attended with academic and athletic scholarships, Winterbottom with an athletic scholarship. Stillman’s athletic teams compete in the 12-team Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). This year the Stillman Tigers were SIAC baseball champions (25-0) for the fifth time in six years after defeating the Paine College Lions, 7-2, at the 2012 SIAC Baseball Championship in Ozark.

Left fielder Trent Posey, No. 8, scored two of the seven runs that won the championship. He reached home on an error in the second inning. After a walk and going to second on a sacrifice bunt, he scored again on a single in the seventh inning. Posey has a .346 SIAC batting average with a .471 slugging percentage.

Third baseman Paul Winterbottom, No. 1, received second team honors from the 2012 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). He is second in the SIAC with a .422 batting average and third with a .620 slugging percentage. He led the SIAC with 79 hits while also hitting three home runs with 49 runs batted in, which ranks him fourth in the SIAC. After defeating Paine, Stillman advanced to play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) South Regional Division II in Tampa. There they defeated the Tampa Spartans in 13 innings, earning them their first-ever regional tourney victory. They then defeated Nova Southeastern in a second game, and Alabama-Hunstville in an 11-5 win that advanced them to the championship. They lost the championship to Delta State in a doubleheader, 5-2 and 10-7.

Posey returns to Stillman in August as a junior seeking a degree in physical education. “My cousin, Noah, plays with the Field of Angels, a baseball team for children with special needs. I’ve helped with the teams for several years and it’s made me want to get a masters in adaptive P.E,” Posey said.

Winterbottom returns as a sophomore athlete, an academic junior, seeking a degree in physical education. “I want to coach high school football or baseball. Coaching college level would be great,” Winterbottom said.

Mollie Brown can be reached at dmjhb1@bellsouth.net.