HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Carson-Newman (32-10, 9-3 South Atlantic Conference) struggled to put a bat on the ball and come through with a timely hit in a shutout sweep at the hands of Coker (35-11, 11-3 SAC) Saturday afternoon at Saleeby-Stokes Field.
The two wins give the Cobras a game lead on Carson-Newman in the South Atlantic Conference standings.
Of the six runs that crossed for the Cobras, only two were earned. The Eagles went 1-for-21 on the double header with runners on base and 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Game one: Coker 2, Carson-Newman 0
It took a while, but Coker drew first blood. The Cobras broke up Lacie Rinus' (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) no-hitter in the fifth and scored some unearned runs to boot.
With runners on first and second, Allyson High squeezed a single through the right side of the infield past both Taylor Scott (Huntington, W.Va.) and Abby Fiessinger (Benton, Ky.) diving. That brought one in and gave Coker a 1-0 lead.
Hannah Goodman then blooped a single to right field to drive in another run and give Coker a 2-0 cushion in the fifth.
Carson-Newman had the tying runs on base in both the sixth and seventh innings, but never could come through with the clutch hit to knot the game.
C-N went 1-for-15 with runners on base and 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Carson-Newman failed to get a run across in spite of getting the leadoff runner on base in five out of seven innings.
Rinus took the hard-luck loss for C-N despite not allowing an earned run. She dropped to 16-5 on the year. Rinus struck out nine and allowed three hits, all in the fifth inning.
Augusta Jackson took the win for Coker, working five innings of two-hit ball for the Cobras. She only stuck out one and walked three.
Tabitha Allen worked a two-inning save, her second of the year.
Game two: Coker 4, Carson-Newman 0
Coker again scored first in game two. Kelsi Bachmann started off the third inning by reaching on an error. She stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice before another sacrifice bunt brought her in to give Coker a 1-0 advantage.
The Cobras added an insurance run in the fifth with a Hannah price single to right. The run that scored was an unearned run.
The Cobras padded their lead in the sixth with a two-out, two-RBI triple to the bottom of the wall in right from Cacey Simmons.
Webster took the loss for the Eagles to fall to 16-5. She walked one, struck out one and gave up six hits.
Taylor Forehand improved to 7-2 with the win for Coker. She pitched five innings of two-hit, shutout bal before Nikki Linthicum and Christine Carver closed up shop in the circle with an inning of work between the two pitchers.
The Eagles return home Tuesday to take on LMU at The Vick. First pitch with the Railsplitters is set for 2 p.m. Coverage of the contests will be available on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.
