Vickee Kazee-Hollifield postgame interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (26-10, 5-5 SAC) lost both ends of a Sunday afternoon doubleheader to 14th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne (27-8, 7-3 SAC) at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex.
The Eagles lost game one 7-1 before the Bears run ruled C-N in game two 10-0 in five innings. The run-rule loss was Carson-Newman's first in 382 days. The Eagle hadn't been run-ruled since a 15-6 loss to LMU last year.
"They (Lenoir-Rhyne's pitching staff) made us swing at bad pitches all afternoon long," "That's what good pitchers do; they make you think a strike is coming in. It was not a good day for our bats not to show up. Defense wasn't as sound as I would have liked it to be for us. They out hit us; they out defended us; they out pitched us. You don't win any of those categories; the score's going to be what it was today."
The 10-0 defeat in game two is the second worst loss in school history. The Eagles lost to Lee 13-1 in 1991.
The Eagles went one-for-15 with runners on base in the series and only advanced one runner throughout the doubleheader sweep.
Brittany Hefner (Talbott, Tenn.) and Kelli Hensley (Knoxville, Tenn.) were the only players who had more than one hit in the series.
Game one: Lenoir-Rhyne 7, Carson-Newman 1
Game one looked to be a pitcher's duel until the Bears blew the doors off the barn in the fifth.
L-R held a 1-0 advantage after four thanks to a Sydney Landreth sacrifice fly to center field.
Then the Bears exploded for five runs in the fifth inning. A pair of two-out home runs for L-R gave the Bears more than enough cushion to pick up the victory.
Jody Mizelle went yard to right with a two-run bomb, then after back-to-back hits, Brittany Coursen crushed a shot to left center to give the Bears a five-run inning and a six-run lead.
Carson-Newman scored its lone run of the series in the sixth off a Hefner single through the left side. That plated Cassie Lyons (Knoxville, Tenn.) from second after she knocked a one-out double off the wall in left.
Haily Jarman set the final margin in the seventh with a bloop single to center.
Sarah Howard (Georgetown, Ky.) took the loss in game one to fall to 12-6. She went 4.2 innings and allowed six runs off of seven hits.
Maryann Hoskins collected to the win for the Bears to jump to 12-5 with the complete game, five-hitter.
Game two: Lenoir-Rhyne 10, Carson-Newman 0 (five innings)
The Bears stomped out seven runs in the final two innings of game two as Carson-Newman didn't advance a base runner past first.
L-R jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first with an Ashley Oliver two-RBI double to right center that was aided and abetted by a Caitlyn Lance (East Ridge, Tenn.) error at first that would have gotten C-N out of the inning.
The Bears plated three in the fourth capped off by a two-RBI Jarman single through the left side. L-R put the run rule on in the fifth with four runs thanks to a two-RBI double to left center from Mizelle and a SAC fly from Jarman.
Kalyn Davis (Danville, Ky.) took the loss after pitching the first three innings. She surrendered six runs, four earned, off of six hits. Howard gave up seven hits and four runs in an inning and a third in relief.
Brandi Hole picked up the win for the Bears to improve to 15-3 in the three-hitter. She struck out five.
The Eagles face LMU in a rivalry game Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Harrogate.
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