JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After back-to-back rainouts in the midweek, Carson-Newman (18-6, 0-0 South Atlantic Conference) will try to get a pair of games in Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Smith Road Complex against Newberry (17-9, 0-0 SAC) in both teams SAC openers.
The Eagles have won seven straight, but haven't seen the field in seven days.
"You never like that," head coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "Eespecially when we've been in the groove that we've been in. We long for warm weather and the chance to play. I hate the timing of it, but there's not much you can do with Mother Nature."
Carson-Newman has won seven straight games, a season-long winning streak, including the first six in March. That includes sweeps of regional powers Limestone (Southeast Region) and New Haven (East Region).
The Eagles have outscored their opposition 45-10 on the streak and are hitting .355 as a team.
Morgan Crawford (Chickamauga, Ga.) and Lacie Rinus (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) are batting .778 and .583 on the streak, respectively. Katie Pritchett (Ringgold, Ga.), Leah Sohm (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Cheyenne Boles (Knoxville, Tenn.) are all hitting north of .400.
Haley Caldwell (Kenova, W.Va.) has driven in 10 with three bombs, three doubles and a .357 average.
Carson-Newman is hitting .348 with runners in scoring position after tallying a .222 average for that stat for the month of February.
Carson-Newman's pitching hasn't been too shabby either on the recent good run of form. Opponents are hitting .165 off the Eagles. Rinus has a 0.62 ERA for the streak.
The Eagles will look to keep the good times rolling against a sound and solid Newberry team. The Wolves boast the reigning SAC Player of the Week in Haley Simonds.
She led Newberry to seven straight wins before the Wolves were swept in the mid-week with a pair of one-run losses to Lander.
Simonds led the way with a batting average of .682. She had at least one hit in each game making 22 appearances in the batter's box. Her week concluded with four doubles, two triples, two home runs, six runs scored and 18 RBIs. She is currently ranked sixth in the SAC for her batting average and first for runs batted with a total of 30.
"She's a strong hitter," Kazee-Hollifield said. "She has a knack for putting a bat on the ball and she's especially good at it when she has runners in scoring position."
Newberry is once again sound and solid as a team. The Wolves hit .327 as a unit, the second best average in the SAC. Meanwhile, defensively, Newberry has a .970 fielding percentage, the third best total in the league.
"We'll have to come out and play really sound softball," head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "You can look at who they've played and their record, Newberry is the real deal. I think they will be very tough."
First pitch between the Eagles and Wolves is set for 1 p.m. Saturday. Follow along with live stats of the contest at cneagles.com/livestats.