JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the first time this season, Carson-Newman (10-2, 3-1 South Atlantic Conference) will hit the road and play away from the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex.
Carson-Newman and Queens (2-4, 1-1 SAC) will match wits Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Tuckaseegee Dream Field.
Carson-Newman has been swinging the hottest bat in the South Atlantic Conference this season. The Eagles lead the league in batting average and are 19th nationally hitting .362. The Eagles brought up their team batting average 22 points in the doubleheader sweep of Coker Thursday.
"I can't say enough about their approach at the plate because it's somehow getting better every game," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "We definitely need to clean up our defense. We're making unforced errors that are providing free bases for teams."
The Eagles numbers are more impressive when you consider some teams have been limited in the number of games they've played due to CoVID. When you factor in teams that have played double-digit games, Carson-Newman is third nationally in batting average behind West Texas A&M (.411) and Alabama Huntsville (.394).
With a .460 on-base percentage, Carson-Newman also leads the league and ranks 14th nationally.
The Eagles have put up double-digit hits in five of their last six contests, including three straight with at least 13 knocks.
Carson-Newman has been staggeringly good with runners on base. The Eagles are 69-of-173 (.399) with runners. Carson-Newman is hitting .392 with runners in scoring position. Leah Sohm, Lacie Rinus, Katie Eakes and KaraLynne Levi are all hitting north of .400 in those situations.
Katie Eakes and Shannon Smith have prolific at delivering Eagles across the plate. Eakes is 15th in the country with 13 RBI (fourth in the league), while Smith ranks 20th nationally with 12 driven in. Eakes and Smith have both driven in multiple RBI in three games each this year. Smith has a pair of four-RBI games.
Leah Sohm has been fleet-of-foot and highly dangerous on the base paths. The senior's eight stolen bases are tops in the conference and seventh nationally.
Sohm has been stupid good at the plate. The shortstop is hitting a staggering .600 at the plate. She carries a five-game hitting streak into the contests. She is 12-of-18 at the plate in that stretch.
Follow @cnathletics for live updates of the games Saturday.
