VIDEO: Elayna Siebert Interview
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Defending South Atlantic Conference regular season champion Carson-Newman softball landed four players on the preseason all-conference teams for the SAC.
Elayna Siebert (Knoxville, Tenn.) headlines the first team while outfielder Talisa Fiame (Pacifica, Calif.), shortstop Kristen Toppel (Roanoke, Va.) and pitcher Lindsay Dean (Coeburn, Va.) highlight the second team.
Siebert was a first team CoSIDA Academic All-America, first team Daktronics All-American, SAC All-tournament team selection, NCAA Southeast Region All-tournament team selection and first team All-SAC pick a year ago. She came on late to finish as the runner up to Bre Lockett for the league's batting title with a .440 average (also good for 86th in the nation).
"This just means that last year was a productive year for me personally as well as our team," Siebert said. "But I try not to get too hung up on preseason honors because it could distract me from the actual season itself."
In conference play only, Siebert was second in the league in HR (8), RBI (20) and total bases (50). She led the league in conference play only with 19 runs scored. Siebert put together the longest hitting streak of the season for an Eagle at 14 games.
She had 16 mult-hit games and 13 multi-RBI games. Siebert matched the school record for double in a game with a three-double game against Mars Hill (3/24). She had a pair of four-hit games and a sextet of three-hit games. She reset her career highs for home runs and total bases against Catawba (3/21) with a pair of dingers and nine total bases. Carson-Newman was 26-3 last year when she scored a run. She hit 14 doubles and a triple in her junior campaign and had a .805 slugging percentage. Siebert also walked a team high 31 times.
Fiame ranked third on the team in batting average hitting .366 for her junior season. She started 48 games and appeared in 50 in right field. She tallied 53 base hits with five doubles and a triple. She drove in 24 runs and slugged .414.
Fiame produced a pair of three-hit games against USC Aiken (3/25Z) and GRU Augusta (5/8). In total, her 15 multi-hit games were fourth on the team. She had a season-long eight game hitting streak as the Eagles closed April with the outright SAC crown.
She hit a walkoff sacrifice fly against Catawba to help the Eagles to a sweep of the Catawba Indians. She hit her only triple of the season against Lees-McRae (2/27) and drove in multiple runs against both Newberry (4/11) and Fort Valley State (2/16).
Dean was a second team All-SAC selection last season, when she went 11-2 in the circle while also starting games at first as a utility player for C-N.
She started 29 games between the two positions in her freshman season for the Eagles with C-N going 23-6 when she started.
Dean carried a 2.43 ERA, tied with fellow freshman Danielle Kranz for the best on the team. She worked a complete game on 10 occasions with three shutouts. Dean pitched 89.1 innings, allowing slightly less than a hit an inning with 85 allowed on the season. She struck out 53 and allowed opponents to hit .250 off her.
Dean set her career high for strikeouts by striking out nine against Fort Valley State (2/19). Offensively, Dean batted .205 with three round trippers and three doubles. She hit her home runs against Anderson (4/7), Newberry (4/11) and Tusculum (4/16). She drove in a career best four RBI against LMU (4/1). She had six multi-hit days and five multi-RBI days. She was also named the SAC Pitcher of the Week after her effort against Fort Valley State.
Toppel saw her freshman season shortened due to knee injury, but still managed to put together a memorable freshman campaign at Mossy Creek. She hit .330 with a team best five triples. Toppel also drove in 31 runs to rank fourth on the team.
Toppel matched a 20-year-old school record for runs scored against Bluefield State (2/6) and Fort Valley State (2/19) crossing home plate five times in each game. She had nine multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games.
Toppel had two, three-hit games against Fort Valley State and Brevard (3/18). She also tied a school record for doubles in a single game with three against Fort Valley State. She hit her two home runs of the year against Concord (3/2) and King (3/7).
All four of C-N's all-SAC honorees will be on display when the Eagles crack open their season against Lees-McRae Feb. 4 at 1:30 p.m.
