VIDEO: Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Interview
VIDEO: Shon Jordan Interview
VIDEO: Lindsay Dean Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (18-8, 4-0 South Atlantic Conference) clobbered four home runs while putting together a complete defensive performance to overwhelm Mars Hill (7-14, 1-3 SAC) in a doubleheader sweep Monday afternoon at the Vickee Kazee Hollifield Softball Complex.
The Eagles took game one 6-1 before run-ruling the Lions in the night cap 11-3 in five innings.
"You want your team to be ready to come out and play anytime you're in conference because there are no do-overs," head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "These were complete team wins in both cases. Our pitchers didn't give up a lot of hits, and we had a bunch of hits."
Cheyenne Boles (Knoxville, Tenn.), Elayna Siebert (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Lindsay Dean (Coeburn, Va.) all homered on the afternoon for the Eagles. Dean went yard twice in game two.
"That's just an added dimension," Kazee-Hollifield said. "They're all so strong, when they get extension, they can crank it out of the park at any time. It's great when you don't just have one of them doing that, if they're all on board, it can be scary at times."
Dean has hit three home runs in her last 10 at bats and became the first Carson-Newman softball player with multiple home runs in a single game since Siebert hit a pair on March 15 last year at home against Catawba.
"We don't think we've arrived," Kazee-Hollifield said. "We're happy we're 4-0, but by no means are we satisfied with that."
Game one: Carson-Newman 6, Mars Hill 1
Carson-Newman pounded out four hits and five runs to open up the contest in the first. The Eagles loaded the bases with one out on a Shon Jordan (Hermitage, Tenn.) single through the left side and walks for Elayna Siebert (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Katie Pritchett (Ringgold, Ga.).
Lindsay Dean (Coeburn, Va.) then lined a one-out double to right center to score two runs. A Talisa Fiame (Pacifica, Calif.) ground out to second brought in another run and gave C-N a 3-0 lead.
Cheyenne Boles (Knoxville, Tenn.) cranked a 1-1 high curve over the wall in left center for her second home run in as many games. The two-run shot made it 5-0 Eagles.
Carson-Newman would pad another run to its lead in the second. Kristen Toppel (Roanoke, Va.) led off the inning with a base hit to short. She moved to second on a Jordan walk and then took third and home on wild pitches to make it 6-0 Eagles.
Mars Hill got a lead off bomb from Erin Vickery that cleared the pine trees in left field to make it a 6-1 game, but Allison Webster (Charlestown, Ind.) slammed the door shut in with a punch out, a ground out and a strikeout to end the game.
Webster got the win, her 10th of the season (10-4). She worked 3.2 innings of no-hit ball before giving up a base hit in the fourth. She allowed four hits and the lone run. The junior struck out seven and walked two.
Shelby Culler got the start and the loss for Mars Hill. She worked the five-run first, allowing four hits and five runs.
Jamie Booze worked the final five innings, scattering five hits and one earned run.
Game two: Carson-Newman 11, Mars Hill 3 (five innings)
Mars Hill picked up the big bats in game two with a one-out triple to right center field from Madelyn Furr. However, starter Danielle Kranz (Fairfield, Calif.) tallied a strikeout and a line drive back to the circle to get out of the frame with no damage done.
Meanwhile, the Eagles started game two much like game one, with a big inning. Siebert belted a line drive home run to right center to make it 2-0. Then back-to-back-to-back singles from Dean, Pritchett and Talisa Fiame (Pacifica, Calif.) pushed another run across to make it 3-0 Eagles. Fiame's base hit through the left side scored Pritchett from two bases away.
After Mars Hill scored a run on a wild pitch in the second, Carson-Newman countered in the home half of the inning.
The Eagles had Toppel on third and Siebert on first with two out for Pritchett. She hit a laser beam into left center. The double cleared the bases and pushed Carson-Newman's lead to 5-1. The Eagles weren't done however.
Dean sneaked a 3-1 fastball just inside the left field foul pole for a two-run bomb, her SAC-leading seventh homer of the season to make it 7-1 Eagles.
MHU would again counter in the third. Jamie Booze reached on a catcher's interference to load the bases for Ellen Tillman. A wild pitch scored a run before Ragan Broome brought in another with a sacrifice fly to right field, making it 7-3 Eagles.
The Eagles offense roared back to life in the fourth. Pritchett connected on her second two-RBI double of the day, a wall-banger to left. Then Dean took her second trip to tater town with a two-run homer into the pine trees in right to make it 11-3 C-N.
Kranz got the complete game victory for the Eagles to move to 3-3 on the year. She matched her career high with 10 strikeouts on the day.
Sydney Elkin (4-7) after allowing nine hits and seven runs in two innings to start the game.
Carson-Newman was 7-for-12 at the plate with runners in scoring position. Both Pritchett and Dean went 3-for-3 with four RBI in the second contest.
The Eagles return home Wednesday to challenge a top-10 Georgia College club. First pitch between the Eagles and Bearcats is slated for 2 p.m. Coverage will be available on the Eagle Sports Network with a free high definition stream at cneagles.com/live
