New partner, same agenda for Suzette Crandall.

Teamed this year with Mary Ellen Smallwood, Crandall will begin defense of the Lanco Ladies' Better Ball title today at Pilgrim's Oak Golf Course in Peach Bottom. The tournament gets underway at 8:30 a.m.

Crandall, the three-time defending Lanco Ladies Individual champion, won last year's Lanco Ladies Better Ball title at Foxchase with Alli Weaver.

Tied with Joyce Herr and Heather Kappesser after the final round, Crandall and Weaver — due to schedule conflicts — had to wait 48 days before finally beating Herr and Kappesser in a four-hole, aggregate playoff.

Last year's Ladies Better Ball title was the seventh for Crandall, who also won the event with Bonnie Hertzog in 1997, Beth Frace in 1999, Karen Hobbs in 2002, Emily Chiodo in 2003 and 2004 and Sarah Bejgrowicz in 2006.

Two weeks ago, Crandall joined Rosa Eshelman (7), Jake Heath (7) and Martha May-Barry as the only women in Lancaster County history to win the Lanco Ladies Individual title four or more times when she cruised to a seven-shot victory at Bent Creek Country Club.

Crandall, who has won four of the last six Lanco Ladies Individual titles, won her first in 2003.

Lisa Dichter and Crystal Quinn, who finished second and tied-for-fourth, respectively, at this year's Lanco Ladies Individual have teamed together for the Better Ball and will play with Crandall and Smallwood in today's 8:40 a.m. pairing.

Sarah Bejgrowicz, who beat Dichter in a playoff to win the 2004 Lanco Ladies Individual at Pilgrim's Oak in 2004 before pairing with Crandall to win the Lanco Ladies Better Ball in 2006, is teamed with Anne Nikolaus.

Bejgrowicz — who recently completed her freshman season on the golf team at NCAA Division I Campbell University in North Carolina — and Nicklaus will play with last year's runner-up team of Herr and Kappesser in today's first pairing at 8:30 a.m.

The 36-hole event concludes with Tuesday's final round at Pilgrim's Oak.