VIDEO: Vickee Hollifield Interview
Carson-Newman is hitting .225 in the month of April, down from a season average of .308. The Eagles haven't scored more than two runs against the Bulldogs since 2014. It's a span of games that has seen the Bulldogs take six of the last seven meetings from the Eagles. C-N's lone win in that time was a 1-0 triumph on the back of a three-hit shutout by Allison Webster (Charlestown, Ind.).
The Bulldogs have shut out the Eagles in three of the last seen meetings.
Regardless of the recent run of form against Wingate, Carson-Newman is tied for the top spot in the conference standings with the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears. C-N and L-R have a one-game lead on third place Coker, who has played two more conference games than the Eagles and Bears, thanks to Brevard halting its softball season in the middle of the year. The games C-N and L-R (and Wingate for that matter) played and won against Brevard no longer count toward the league ledger.
"You have to be happy with being in first, especially with how tough our conference is," head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "You can't overlook anyone. Wingate is a tough opponent and they defend their home turf well. We know we have to be ready for them, especially with the quality of cuts they're taking at the plate."
The matchup pits two of the more youthful clubs in the South Atlantic Conference against one another. Carson-Newman starts five freshmen routinely while the Bulldogs have six first-year players in the field.
Those six Wingate freshmen helped the Bulldogs produce a sweep of a nationally-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne club earlier this year.
"She has brought in a lot of good talent and she's got them for three more years after this," Kazee-Hollifield said. "They are a solid ball club and we have to be a bit better in some departments in order to pick up wins."
The Bulldogs are the first team Carson-Newman has faced this month that bats below .300, but the Bulldogs aren't too far off that mark. Wingate hits .295 as a club.
Naomi Sapp paces the offense with a .421 average. She has a team best 10 doubles and 61 hits.
Katie McLaurin and Jordan Floyd have driven in the most runs with 24 each.
Rachel Weidner leads the Wingate pitching staff with a 2.47 ERA. She is 12-9. Weidner has worked a septet of complete game shutouts, she and C-N's Lacie Rinus (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) are tied for the second most shutout performances in the South Atlantic Conference.
Carson-Newman is coming off its first seven-plus-inning walkoff victory since 2015 against Tusculum. Cheyenne Boles (Knoxville, Tenn.) drew a five-pitch, bases-loaded walk to clinch a victory and a doubleheader sweep over Lincoln Memorial
"If you look statistically at LMU and how well they were swinging the bat, those games give us some added confidence," Kazee-Hollifield said. "But it's a new day, so we have to go out there and be ready to perform at a high level."
A tight game is a high probability against Wingate. The Bulldogs have played in 21 ballgames decided by two or fewer runs this season. They are 9-12 in such games. In comparison, C-N has played in 13 such games, the Eagles are 7-6, but 4-1 in games decided by a run.
Catcher KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) has thrown out 46 percent of runners who have tried to steal on her. She has caught 13 trying to steal. Both figures are the top marks among catchers in the Southeast Region. The battery of Levi and Rinus have caught 76 percent of runners who have tried to steal on them.
Wingate is last in the SAC in stolen bases with three on five attempts.
First pitch between the Eagles and Bulldogs is set for 1 p.m. Coverage of the game will be available on ESPN 3.
