TIGERVILLE, S.C. – Carson-Newman (14-8) belted a couple home runs in game one but defensive miscues doomed the Eagles in game two as C-N split a doubleheader at North Greenville (14-11) Wednesday afternoon at Jan McDonald Field.
Elayna Siebert (Knoxville, Tenn.) went yard for the 21st time in her career in game one, and Lindsay Dean (Coeburn, Va.) for the eighth time as the Eagles used the long ball to pick up a 4-1 win to start off the day.
However, the Eagles made four errors in game two and left 10 baserunners stranded to aid the Crusaders to a 6-2 triumph.
"We are becoming known for splits," head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "That's not what Carson-Newman softball is known for. We need to get back to putting together 14 complete innings in a doubleheader."
Game one: Carson-Newman 4, North Greenville 1
Carson-Newman started out the game by getting one-out singles in both the first and second innings before breaking through in the third.
Kristen Toppel (Roanoke, Va.) worked a one-out walk before Elayna Siebert (Knoxville, Tenn.) bombed her third home run in as many series over the wall down the right field line to put C-N in front 2-0.
Webster carried a no-hitter into the fifth, but North Greenville managed to score a run without getting a hit.
Morgan Hurlong got to second base on a dropped fly ball by C-N centerfielder Andi Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) to lead off the inning. Jordan Farmer dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move the pinch-running Traci Howell over to third before Carson O'Donald bombed a deep ball to center field.
This time Smith made the grab while Howell tagged up and scooted to the right side of the tag to score a run.
Carson-Newman would add some insurance the next inning. Siebert singled deep into the hole at short to get the party started with one out. A Katie Pritchett (Ringgold, Ga.) ground out moved Siebert over to second. Then Lindsay Dean (Coeburn, Va.) belted her eighth career jack over the wall in left to push the Eagles' lead to three, 4-1.
North Greenville would break up Webster's no-hitter in the sixth with hits from Megan Johnson and Morgan Milam. However, Webster tallied her ninth strikeout of the day to finish off the Crusaders with no damage done.
Allison Webster (Charlestown, Ind.) collected the win in the circle to move to 8-4 on the year. The game marks the third this season for Webster where she has seen a no-hit bid broken up after the fifth inning. She struck out nine against three hits allowed and two walks. The lone run NGU scored was unearned.
Carson O'Donald took the loss for NGU, falling to 6-4 on the year. The Eagles rapped out seven hits on her, plating their runs thanks to Siebert and Dean's long balls.
Kristen Toppel (Roanoke, Va.) saw her 16-game hitting streak come to an end; she went 0-for-3 with a walk.
Game two: North Greenville 6, Carson-Newman 2
Carson-Newman cracked the scoreboard first, and wasted little time in doing so in game two thanks to solid base running.
Siebert walked, moved to second on a Dean base hit and then scored when she was awarded home on a throw that entered the NGU dugout.
The Crusaders evened the score in the bottom of the first. Celsea Rivers bounced a ball through the right side of the infield for a base hit that scored Greer Killman from two bases away as Smith's throw from center was too deep.
Carson-Newman threatened to retake the lead in the second, but were unable to. Toppel led off the frame with a base hit to left and then stole second. She moved to third on a Shon Jordan (Hermitage, Tenn.) sacrifice. However, a strikeout and a groundout ended the threat for C-N.
North Greenville would grab the lead in the third. Rivers and Johnson led off the inning with back-to-back base hits. A Howell sacrifice moved both runners into scoring position. Jordan Farmer then reached on a throwing error by Pritchett as a run came in to score in the form of Rivers.
The Crusaders pushed the lead to two, 3-1, on a Morgan Milam single through the left side of the infield. NGU was aided by a pair of C-N errors in the frame.
Another run would come across in the fourth for the Crusaders when Greer Killam scored on a wild pitch.
Carson-Newman got a run back in the sixth as Ashlyn Cooper (Friendsville, Tenn.) drove in Donna Ryan (Orlando, Fla.) with a single to right center. However, the Eagles would leave the bases loaded in the inning.
NGU made C-N pay for a lack of timely hitting in the sixth as the Crusaders padded their lead up to four runs, 6-2 on an Emily Murphy two-RBI double to right center.
Anna Rogers got the win for NGU to improve to 2-0 on the year. She worked 4.1 innings, striking out six and walking two. Emily Murphy worked the final 2.2 and collected the save.
Dean took her first loss of the year dropping to 5-1. She gave up six hits in 2.1 innings to start the game. However, only one of the three runs she allowed was earned.
Danielle Kranz (Fairfield, Calif.) pitched the final 3.2 innings, surrendering four hits and three runs against two walks.
Toppel produced a mutli-hit day for the Eagles, going 2-for-4.
Carson-Newman heads back to The Vick Saturday to open up conference play with Queens. First pitch against the Royals is at 1 p.m. Coverage will be available on the Eagle Sports Network with a high definition stream at cneagles.com/live.
