HARROGATE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (36-17) left 10 runners stranded on bases in a 4-3 loss to second-seeded Anderson (37-11) Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the South Atlantic Conference Softball Championships at Neely Field.
The Eagles will take on Brevard in an elimination game at 12:30 Friday in Middlesboro, Ky.
Carson-Newman outhit the Trojans 12-8, but left the bases loaded on two occasion. The Eagles loaded them up in the first with no one out, but couldn't bring a run across. Then, C-N put a trio of Eagles on the pond in the seventh with two out, but couldn't get the timely hit to extend the game.
"You could go back inning by inning and see that we had missed opportunities," Carson-Newman head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "We don't get a do over and now we're in the losers' bracket fighting for our lives."
Elayna Siebert (Knoxville, Tenn.) recorded the first four-hit day of her career, while Sara Kelley went three-for-four at the dish.
After Anderson scored a combined 21 runs on C-N in a doubleheader sweep earlier in the year, Cassie Lyons (Knoxville, Tenn.) limited AU to just eight hits and four runs. However, the junior took the hard-luck loss to fall to 8-2 on the year.
"Lyons was great today," Kazee-Hollifield said. "She kept their batters off balance. So an exceptional job for us today in the pitching department."
Anderson jumped out to a 2-0 lead on C-N in the second inning thanks to a Bri Cason triple that flew just over the reach of Haley Taylor (Strawberry Plains, Tenn.) in center to plate a pair of runs.
C-N would even the score in the next inning though when Brittany Hefner (Talbott, Tenn.) cranked her seventh home run of the year over the wall in left.
Anderson jumped back on C-N in the fourth thanks to back-to-back extra base hits from Laura Jansky and Charlotte Sieber.
The Eagles rallied for a run in the fifth on a Taylor single to center. She plated Hefner from third after she hit her 16th double of the year.
C-N had a chance to go ahead in the seventh, but couldn't bring even the tying run across. Kelley and Siebert started the frame with back-to-back base hits. Siebert went to center, Kelley to left. After a fielder's choice and a pop up to second, Taylor laced a gut shot through the heart of the infield to load the bases with two out.
However, Brittany Bass (Duluth, Ga.) saw her line drive through the right side snow coned by the second baseman Jessica Neighdig to preserve the lead and the win for the Trojans.
All-SAC pitcher Katelyn Howser collected the win for AU to improve to 16-5 on the year.
