VIDEO: Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (18-10, 4-0 South Atlantic Conference) and Catawba (20-9, 4-0 SAC) are on an early collision course for a battle for first place in SAC standings when the two squads meet Friday at 1:30 at Whitley Field.
The Eagles and Indians are the only two 4-0 teams in the league standings. Lenoir-Rhyne is 2-0 and is the only other unbeaten in conference play.
"I think they are a very athletic team," Carson-Newman head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "They have a lot of speed, for us it will start with keeping some very speedy runners off the base paths."
The Indians, at one time ranked in the top 10 in the country, started out the conference campaign with sweeps of Brevard and Newberry. The Eagles opened up conference play with sweeps of Queens and Mars Hill.
Both squads feature dominant pitching. Carly Tysinger is nearing the end of a legendary career with Catawba. The senior pitcher ranks 24th in earned run average (1.12), 11th in shutouts (5), seventh in strikeouts per seven innings (10.4) and sixth in strikeouts 157. She ranks third in all divisions among active players with 1,099 career strikeouts - a figure that's top 20 all-time in the Division II record books.
The Indians have a fantastic defense to back up Tysinger. Their 0.971 fielding percentage is 22nd in the nation and second in the SAC.
Catawba's offense has struggled to keep pace with their defense and pitching. The Indians' 0.327 on-base percentage is second to last in the South Atlantic Conference, as is their .266 batting average.
Meanwhile, the Eagles' own pitching hit a nadir against Georgia College in spite of a sweep Wednesday.
"I thought we pitched extremely well against Georgia College." Kazee-Hollifield said. "We've come back out Thursday working to get our bats going. I think we're looking forward to this challenge this weekend."
Allison Webster (Charlestown, Ind.) carried a perfect game into the sixth inning of game one while she and Danielle Kranz (Fairfield, Calif.) kept the nation's 13th best offense below all their season averages on the day.
Webster is third in the conference in strikeouts this season with 131, behind Tysinger and Brevard's Jamie Hrobak.
First pitch between the Eagles and Indians is slated for 1:30 p.m. Coverage will be available on the Eagle Sports Network with an audio stream at cneagles.com/live.
