VIDEO: Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Interview
Second baseman Elayna Siebert (Knoxville, Tenn.), catcher Hayley Burnette (Rossville, Ga.) and right fielder Talisa Fiame (Pacifica, Calif.) will be honored in a ceremony between games.
Siebert has started 182 games in her Carson-Newman career. A lifetime .363 batter, the Karns High School graduate earned first team All-America honors as a utility player as a junior in addition to Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA. Her 14 career triples rank second all-time in Carson-Newman history while her .363 average is the sixth highest in Carson-Newman softball history. Her 22 home runs meanwhile rank fourth all-time at Carson-Newman.
"Elayna came in and got in the trenches early on," head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "What a tremendous ball player. Her game has elevated every year she's been here and we're still looking for big things from her."
Burnette has been sidelined with an illness for much of her senior season. The catcher has started 104 games in the orange and blue while transforming into one of the best defensive catchers Carson-Newman has seen. The Lake Fort Oglethorpe High School grad has the second highest percentage of runners got stealing in Carson-Newman history, and led the league in the category as a junior. The 30 batters she has thrown out are second all-time.
"What a tough season for her," Kazee-Hollifield said. "So disappointing for her. But what a competitor. She worked so hard on the field. We truly have missed her leadership. I can't say enough about her being around and serving in an capacity she can."
Fiame is a two-year starter for the Eagles after transferring to the program from the College of San Mateo. A preseason first team All-SAC outfielder, the Pacifica, Calif.-native has started all but three games in her Carson-Newman career. She has hit .314 in her C-N career with nine doubles, two triples, and an inside-the-park home run that she hit earlier this season against Bluefield State. With only one strikeout this season, the NCAA ranks her as the second most difficult batter in the country to strike out.
"She's been a big tremendous help for us over the last two seasons," Kazee-Hollifield said. "Her junior year was fantastic, and much like Elayna, we hope to see her finish out on a high note."
Lenoir-Rhyne has an opportunity to lock up their 10th regular season South Atlantic Conference championship against last year's defending champs. A sweep would give the Bears their 10th crown, second only to Carson-Newman's 14 regular season titles.
The Bears sit a game in front of Catawba, who closes the year at Tusculum. A sweep would assure the Bears the title, as would a split coupled with a split by the Indians.
Meanwhile, the Eagles are fighting for seeding in the conference tournament. Carson-Newman will either be the three seed or the four. A win over Lenoir-Rhyne would give Carson-Newman the tiebreak over Wingate, who sits a game back of the Eagles. The teams split their meetings at The Vick earlier this season. Ties for seeds are broken by looking at the teams' records against the highest seed, in the event the tie can't be broken, the process moves down the standings until it can be.
The Eagles, under this scenario, would be at least 1-1 against L-R, while the Bulldogs would be 0-2. If Catawba were to be the top seed, Wingate would own the tiebreak, as it swept the doubleheader from the Indians while Catawba swept Carson-Newman. The Bulldogs close their season with a doubleheader against Anderson.
The Bears are riding a six-game winning streak and have scored 10 or more runs three times in that span. L-R most recently swept Queens with 12-4 and 14-5 decisions.
Meanwhile, the Eagles have split four straight doubleheaders, and haven't swept anyone since a shutout sweep of Anderson back on April 6.
"We know we have to go out and compete tomorrow," Kazee-Hollifield said. "Lenoir-Rhyne is an explosive, well-rounded team. We have to play our A-game in every category because that's what they have been doing all season long."
The Eagles come in off a split with Tusculum. The Eagles fell in the nightcap 7-2 after triumphing in 10 innings 7-5. At 3:17, Carson-Newman's 10-inning win over Tusculum is the second-longest softball game for the program since 2009. The Eagles lost 5-4 in the NCAA regionals to Francis Marion in a rain-delay aided game in 4:47. It is just the third three-hour game Carson-Newman has played in since 2009. The 10-innning victory moved the Eagles to 3-0 in 10-inning games over the last seven years.
Lenoir-Rhyne has some of the best bats in the country. The Bear's .343 batting average ranks 12th nationally, while they hit 2.00 doubles per game, which ranks fourth in the country.
Additionally, the Bears have a 0.975 fielding percentage, a total that is fifth in the nation and is on pace to be the second highest fielding percentage in league history and tied for the highest fielding percentage in Lenoir-Rhyne history.
First pitch between the Eagles and Bears is set for 1 p.m. Coverage of the games will be available on the Eagle Sports Network with a free high definition stream at cneagles.com/live.
