AUGUSTA, Ga. – Carson-Newman (15-7) used a 10-run fifth to earn a run-rule win in the second game of a doubleheader and a split with Augusta (5-21) Sunday afternoon at Jaguar Field.
Augusta walked it off with a 6-5 win in game one before the Eagles powered through for a 12-2 win in the nightcap.
"We just have to get more consistent with our play," head coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "When we're on, it's a pretty picture. When we're not on, it gets ugly quick. Right now, it's a broad spectrum with not a lot in the middle."
Two-out hits were the name of the game for both teams. All six of the Jags runs in game one were scored with two outs. The Eagles turned the tables in game two with eight, two-out runs scored.
Kristen Toppel (Roanoke, Va.) and Taylor Scott (Huntington, W.Va.) both went 3-for-6 at the plate for the doubleheader with three runs batted in. KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) also drove in three.
Game one: Augusta 6, Carson-Newman 5
Carson-Newman hit quickly and with great ferociousness. A day after her 18-game hitting streak came to an end, Abby Fiessinger (Benton, Ky.) led off the game with a single to left. Kristen Toppel (Roanoke, Va.) followed with a bunt single to third setting the stage for Taylor Scott (Huntington, W.Va.).
The freshman walloped a pitch to left for her second home run of the year and the second three-run homer of the year for the softball program.
The Eagles weren't done in the first though. Lacie Rinus (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) tripled to left before Katie Pritchett (Ringgold, Ga.) drove her in with a single to left to put the Eagles up 4-0 after one.
The Jags would get it all back in the bottom of the inning. Two walks gave Augusta a pair of base runners for Marni Greenstein who laced a two-double to left to score one. Then Carolyn Edwards trotted to the plate and promptly blasted a three-run homer to left to even the score before a strikeout ended the inning.
Augusta took the lead in the fifth. Greenstein powered her second double of the game to center field for another two-out RBI that put the Jags up 5-4.
The Eagles would draw even in the fifth. C-N loaded the bases with singles from Fiessinger and Toppel, plus a walk from Scott. KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) hit a deep fly to center to sacrifice in Fiessinger. Rinus smoked a shot to third, but Carolyn Edwards robbed her of a base hit that would have brought in another run to end the inning.
In the seventh, Carson-Newman got a one-out base runner with a single to right for Pritchett for her first multi-hit performance of the year. C-N brought in Kennedy Richardson (Elizabethton, Tenn.) to run for her.
Allison Webster (Charlestown, Ind.) kept the inning rolling with another single to right to give the Eagles runners on first and second with one out. Sarah Barrett (West Hamlin, W.Va.) popped up for the second out of the inning. Fiessinger struck out swinging to end the threat for the Eagles and left the game tied.
The Jaguars started out their seventh with an infield single to short by Kelsea Hunter. Following a foul out, Hunter moved to second on a sacrifice and third on a wild pitch. Back-to-back two out walks to Greenstein and Edwards, the two run producers on the day for the Jags, loaded the bases for Erin Rozier. She delivered the walk-off single with a base hit to center to score Hunter.
All six of the Jags runs on the day were scored with two outs. Carson-Newman left 11 base runners stranded, including five in scoring position. C-N went 2-for-8 at the plate with runners in scoring position.
Webster took a defeat for a second straight game to fall to 7-4. She allowed eight hits, six runs, all earned, with five strikeouts against four walks.
Alyssa Johnson got the start for Augusta before the Eagles chased her from the game after a third of an inning and four runs. Morgan Hunter finished out the game, going 6.2 innings. She gave up seven hits, but only allowed one run. She struck out eight and walked three.
Game two: Carson-Newman 12, Augusta 2 (five innings)
The Eagles started game two much in the way that they did game one – with a dinger.
Toppel got plunked with one out, moved to second on a wild pitch, and then moved on home when Levi delivered a two-out dinger to left.
Augusta countered in the third. Rozier provided the Jags with their first hit of the day before moving to third a batter later on a throwing error. She came in to score when Lindsay Stokes singled to center to pull Augusta within a run. The Jags tied the game with an unearned run as Hunter delivered a two-out single to center.
Carson-Newman retook the lead in the fifth. Janelle Benzick (Virginia Beach, Va.) singled to start off the frame. Richardson entered to run for her and moved to second on a Webster sacrifice bunt. Fiessinger brought her in when the freshman clobbered her seventh homer of the year to left field.
The Eagles kept the party rolling with walks for Toppel and Levi. Rinus helped out her own cause in the circle with an RBI single to left that scored Toppel, making it 5-2.
After Boles walked, Barrett drove in two with a double to left. That was followed by a Benzick single to left that brought in Boles and extended the lead to 8-2.
That chased Augusta starter Kristen Mills from the game. Emily Hittinger came in and promptly gave up an RBI single to Webster to push the lead to seven runs.
The Jags chose to walk Fiessinger her second time to the plate in the inning which loaded the bases. Toppel made the Jags pay for that decision with a bases-clearing double to the power alley in left. That gave the Eagles a 12-2 cushion.
Augusta went down in order in the fifth and the game ended early by virtue of the run rule. The Eagles went 7-for-9 at the plate with runners in scoring position in game two.
Rinus got the win to improve to 8-3. She gave up five hits and struck out six.
Mills got the loss for Augusta to fall to 1-11.
The Eagles return home Thursday to face Bluefield State at noon. Coverage of the twinbill will be available on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.
