VIDEO: Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Interview
The Eagles have split three consecutive doubleheaders after starting the month of March with a four-game winning streak.
"I wish I could put my finger on it," head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "When you look at the hitting, pitching and defense, we aren't too far off the learning curve. But we have to play a bit steadier with a competitive hunger. We can't take an inning off or be lazy because everyone has good players."
It was Queens who played the role of spoiler last season against Carson-Newman. Carson-Newman clinched the South Atlantic Conference regular season title outright last year with a 12-4 win over the Royals at Park Road Park, however, Queens spoiled the Eagles' victory lap by taking a 7-6 decision in the nightcap of that doubleheader.
The Eagles lead the all-time series with the Royals 8-5. Carson-Newman has only swept one doubleheader all-time with Queens. C-N beat the Royals 10-1 and 5-2 in the first meeting between the teams as SAC foes during the 2014 season.
Shon Jordan (Hermitage, Tenn.) has brought her average up 50 points (to .250) by going on a career-best six-game hit streak. She has the longest active streak for the Eagles after Kristen Toppel's (Roanoke, Va.) 16-game streak came to an end against NGU.
Allison Webster (Charlestown, Ind.) is 10th in the country and second in the SAC in strikeouts per seven innings with 10.1.
Queens doesn't make many mistakes defensively, the Royals' 0.975 fielding percentage is second in the conference behind Lenoir-Rhyne and the 14th best figure in the country. On top of that, the Royals have been dangerous once they've gotten on the base paths.
Queens is fifth in the conference with 33 steals this season.
Elaina Frantellizzi leads the Royals offense with a .368 batting average. She has driven in a team-best 11 RBI.
Catelyn Presley is the top arm on the Royals' pitching staff. She has a 3.33 earned run average and a 2-5 record.
First pitch Friday between the Eagles and Royals is set for 2 p.m. Coverage will be available on the Eagle Sports Network with a free high definition stream at cneagles.com/live.
