VIDEO: Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Interview
The Eagles open up play Friday against Augusta (2-10) and Belmont Abbey (4-6) before finishing play Saturday with Columbus State (9-4) and King (0-2).
"This is good competition," head coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "We're thrilled about that, and we're thrilled to have some good weather. It should be a good tournament and we're eager to see where we are."
Augusta is coming off an NCAA tournament appearance last year while Columbus State is three years removed from its most recent foray into postseason play.
Carson-Newman starts play at 2 p.m. Friday with Augusta, ne' GRU Augusta. The Eagles opened their 2015 trip to the NCAA tournament with a 6-3 win over the Jaguars. Danielle Kranz (Fairfield, Calif.) struck out six in relief in that game.
The Jags are 0-10, but 0-10 against stout competition this season. Collectively, Augusta's opposition has gone 62-16-1 this season. Two of the Jags opponents are in the NFCA top 25 (Alabama-Huntsville and Valdosta State) and two more are receiving votes (Anderson and North Alabama).
"You can look at who they've played, and they've played the toughest of the tough," Kazee-Hollifield said. "You can't look at the record because they are always well coached and talented across the board."
Daktronics All-Southeast Region selection Paige Deschaine leads the pitching staff, but the senior has had to battle stout competition to begin her senior season. She's 0-5 this season with a 7.10 ERA. Opponents are hitting .324 against her.
Ashley Benton leads the Jags offense with a .276 average. Auburn Blcorta leads the team with five RBI and a pair of extra base hits. Augusta is hitting .180 as a team.
C-N continues play Friday evening against Belmont Abbey. Belmont Abbey is the only team to give up 20+ runs on two occasions to C-N. The 28 runs C-N scored on the Crusaders in the first meeting between the two teams in 1996 are the second most the Eagles have scored all-time. Since losing to Belmont Abbey 4-3 in the second game of a 2006 doubleheader, the Eagles have outscored BAC 97-13 on an 11- game win streak.
The Crusaders seem to be a team on the rise though. The Eagles eked out 5-4 and 3-1 wins to start the year last season against Belmont Abbey.
"They have a couple girls who are ripping the cover off the ball," Kazee-Hollifield said. "We'll have to pitch effectively and defense will have to be sharp. It's not like we've beaten them 10-1, they aren't someone you can take lightly."
The Crusaders have used a whopping seven pitchers this season. Samantha Jacobs leads the staff with 17 strikeouts in 18.2 innings of work. The staff has a 3.71 team ERA and opponents are hitting .271 off them.
BAC does have an impressive offense to back up its pitching. Sloane McPeak has already driven in 13 runs with two dingers and a trio of doubles. Five regulars in Belmont Abbey's lineup hit at least .333.
The Eagles return to play Saturday at 11 a.m. against a Columbus State team that has won three straight against the Eagles.
The Cougars have won six of their last seven games, and have done it behind a strong offensive attack. CSU holds a .372 team batting average during that stretch, led by its top of the order hitters.
Sophomore McKenzie Fagioli is hitting .412 for the young season, but holds a team-best .524 average over the last seven games. Fellow sophomore Kia Smith is just behind her teammate at .522, which has upped her season total to an even .500.
"He's always had a good hitting ball club with a strong pitcher in the circle," Kazee-Hollifield said. "It certainly would be a big win for us if we could go out there and get that. We just have to lace them up each time we go out there with a fresh start."
Leadoff hitter Katie White holds a .481 on-base percentage in the seven-game stretch with 13 runs scored and eight stolen bases. Calli Star is batting .429 with 10 runs batted in.
Sydney Barker leads the way for the Lady Cougars in the circle, holding a 3-1 record with a 3.38 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .216 against the right-hander over 24 innings. Freshman Peyton Sorrells leads the team in wins with a 4-1 overall mark.
The Eagles wrap up the event at 1 p.m. Saturday against King. The Eagles have already won two games against the Tornado this season, using big innings to break open a pair of pitcher's duels 5-3 and 5-2.
Carson-Newman's pitching staff struck out 23 through the doubleheader. Alli Webster had 13 in game one, one off the school record.
C-N has dominated Conference Carolinas over the last three seasons. The Eagles are 37-4 against the league since the 2013 season. Erskine swept a doubleheader from the Eagles in Due West last season.
For live updates on the tournament, follow @CNAthletics on Twitter.
