JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (19-7, 0-0 South Atlantic Conference) hits the road to open up South Atlantic Conference play at Park Road Park Saturday at 1 p.m. against Queens (14-12, 0-0 SAC).
The Eagles ride a five-game winning streak, the longest active streak in the SAC, into the contest.
Conference openers have been a bit of a sticking point for Carson-Newman over the last six seasons. The Eagles swept Queens at home to open SAC play last year but either split, or were swept the five years prior to that.
Nonetheless, the Eagles enter with momentum. C-N took a pair of one-run games from Young Harris on Thursday in a matchup of teams with legitimate NCAA tournament aspirations.
"That doubleheader prepares us for conference play and Saturday against Queens," head coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "The way that we played today is a must for each conference game the rest of the way."
Queens has one of the speedier and athletic teams in the South Atlantic Conference. The Royals lead the league and are 24th in the nation with 2.07 stolen bases per game. The Royals swiped five bags against North Greenville, Mansfield and Virginia State.
Sidney Ditto and Sabrina Martinez are among the league leaders for stolen bases. Ditto has 17 to lead the SAC. Martinez has swiped 11 bags and is fourth in the league. Both players have been caught stealing on four occasions.
Carson-Newman catcher KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) has gunned down five of the 14 runners who have tried to steal against her this season. The Eagles have gotten nearly half of the 17 runners who have attempted to steal on them this season.
The Eagles didn't surrender a stolen base to Young Harris and were very good when the Mountain Lions did get runners on base. The Mountain Lions were a combined 4-for-29 at the plate with runners on base and 3-for-24 with runners in scoring position.
A big reason for the quality numbers there is Carson-Newman's pitching staff. Allison Webster (Charlestown, Ind.) and Lacie Rinus (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) are second and third in the SAC with 88 and 86 strikeouts, respectively.
The matchup also features the fourth best strikeout artist in the league in Queens' Courtney Pearson. She has punched out 83 in 17 appearances.
The Royals will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak on which they have been outscored 32-9. That losing streak has come after a five-game win strteak that saw the Royals run-rule three opponents and beat Virginia State 20-0.
First pitch between the Eagles and Queens is set for 1 p.m. Live stats will be available at queensathletics.com. Follow @cnathletics on Twitter for live updates for the games.
