JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman saw two fifth-inning leads vanish before its eyes, as Concord swept the Eagles on Saturday afternoon at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex.
Ashlyn Cooper (Friendsville, Tenn.) got things going for the Carson-Newman (2-2) offense in the first game of the doubleheader. She started the third inning off with a leadoff single to center field. After back-to-back fielder's choice outs, Abby Fiessinger (Benton, Ky.) singled to right field and drove in Kristen Toppel (Roanoke, Va.) for the first run of the game for the Eagles.
Ali Webster (Charlestown, Ind.) was cruising through the first five innings only allowing one hit and striking out six Concord (2-0) batters in the process.
The Eagles ran into trouble in the sixth inning though as Alayna Furr doubled down the left field line to lead off the inning. Lindsey Stahl executed a sacrifice bunt to move Furr over to third. With the infield drawn in and looking for a double play ball, Lauren Lewis stepped in and hit a ball just over the arms Fiessinger to tie the game up at one a-piece.
Jenna Witt then singled to center field to move Lewis to second. A costly wild pitch from Webster allowed the runners to move up an extra base. Alycea Watson came up next and made Webster pay for her mistake by hitting a double into center field and picking up two RBI's in the process.
In the bottom of the sixth the Eagles had a chance to counter with some offense of their own. Fiessinger reached base after being hit by a pitch. Katie Pritchett (Ringgold, Ga.) represented the tying run at the plate and hit a fastball just a foot short of the center field wall for the second out of the inning. Taylor Scott (Huntington, W.Va.) attempted to hit the second home run of her career, but she too fell just a few feet short of the wall out in center field.
Carson-Newman had another chance in the bottom of seventh to tie the game again as Cooper doubled into the right center gap with 2 outs in the game to give her two hits in game one. Webster then grounded to third to end the game for the Eagles.
Carson-Newman got off to a rough start in the second game allowing the leadoff batter to reach on an error. After that happened the Eagles seemed to settle down a bit, as freshman Lacie Rinus (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) worked efficiently inside the circle only throwing 18 pitches in the first two innings of play.
Cooper provided the spark offense again for the Eagles, this time with a solo-homerun down the left field line to put the Eagles on top 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning.
Heading into the top of the fifth Rinus had only given up one hit during her outing and appeared to be cruising as she struck out the first batter of the inning, and got the second batter of the inning to pop out to second base. Lauren Blunt then stepped in and singled to left center, the Mountain Lions then put in a pinch runner for Blunt. Pinch hitter Abby Beatty stepped up to the plate and tripled down the right field line and tied the game at 1-1.
The Eagles tried to answer in the bottom of the sixth inning, KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) singled into center field to begin the inning. Kennedy Richardson (Elizabethton, Tenn.) came in to pinch run for Levi. Two batters later and Scott singled to center putting runners on first and second. After a Rinus walk the Eagles found themselves with a bases loaded situation late in the game. Webster grounded out to second base to end the inning for the Eagles.
The game went into extras tied at 1-1, but that did not last long as Beatty singled down the right field line to score Stahl from second base. Furr was the very next batter for the Mountain Lions and she hit an infield single to move Beatty to second. One batter later and Lauren Lewis hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in the third run of the afternoon for Concord.
In the bottom of the eight the Eagles had the heart of the order come up to bat, but were only able to produce a walk out of the four batters that came up to the plate. Pritchett popped a ball up to second to end the game for the Eagles.
Overall on the day the Eagles stranded 14 base runners on the base paths.
Cooper had three hits between the two games, while freshmen Fiessenger and Scott each collected two hits as well.
Concord was led by Beatty, Furr and Witt each of which had two hits on the day.
Webster and Rinus each threw complete games and both picked up their first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon.
Allie Reid and Rachel Pritchard each picked up a win for the Mountain Lions on Saturday.
The Eagles are home again on Wednesday afternoon against North Greenville. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. Coverage is available on the Eagle Sports Network with a free high definition stream at cneagles.com/live.
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