JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After a 6-4 start to the season, Carson-Newman head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield hopes a youthful and banged-up Eagle softball program takes the field in the month of March bent on becoming a more consistent group on the field.
The Eagles tackle Bluefield State (0-4) Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. in a doubleheader at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex.
"You just keep trying to get better," Kazee-Hollifield said. "We hope to get some weather to get games in. We for sure need to play to improve. So we hope we can take the field tomorrow against the Blues and actually play some games with an eye on improving. We know we're young in some positions, and we need some people to really step up and start playing their games."
Carson-Newman is coming off just its second sweep at the hands of a Conference Carolinas opponent in the last four seasons. Limestone beat Carson-Newman 12-4 and 4-3 Saturday.
Those games proved to be a microcosm of the season thus far as the Eagles left runners stranded on base in pivotal situations. The Eagles have struggled to capitalize on scoring opportunities. C-N has left an average 7.8 runners on this season
Bluefield State hasn't taken the field in nearly a month. The Blues lost to Glenville State 11-1 and Lenoir-Rhyne 21-0 on Feb. 7.
Carson-Newman has outscored Bluefield State 130-8 all-time and leads the all-time series 12-0. Kristen Toppel (Roanoke, Va.) matched a school record the last time the team's got together with a school-record five runs scored. Bre Lockett reset the school record for home runs with three and total bases with 13 in a 26-0 win.
The first game of that doubleheader saw Carson-Newman pound out a school record 16 runs in a single inning. Lockett clobbered her second homer of the day, this time clearing the fence in center to score two. When the dust settled in the third, Carson-Newman had scored seven runs before it made its first out. A grand slam from Lockett the next time she came up and a solo bomb from Sarah Howard (Georgetown, Ky.) pushed the Eagles' lead out to 24-0.
All told, Carson-Newman had 16 runs off 10 hits and three Bluefield State errors in that third inning.
This year, Toppel has matched a career-long hitting streak by reaching successfully on a base hit in six consecutive games.
First pitch from The Vick is set for 1 p.m. Coverage will be available on the Eagle Sports Network with a free high definition stream at cneagles.com/live.
