VIDEO: Michael Graves Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
VIDEO: Shannon Smith Interview
VIDEO: Lacie Rinus Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (12-2, 7-1 South Atlantic Conference) hurler Lacie Rinus (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) became the fourth player in school history with 600 career strikeouts and the Eagles took two from Limestone (9-11, 1-5 SAC) in a twin bill Wednesday at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex.
Carson-Newman won game one 9-1 in run-rule fashion in five innings before needing every ounce of offense it could muster in a 15-12 win in the nightcap.
Excluding lopsided wins over Belmont Abbey 28-2 in 1996 and 31-0 over Fort Valley State in 2015, the 27 combined run scored in the nightcap goes down as the highest scoring game in Carson-Newman softball history.
"We definitely need to get mentally tougher as pitchers," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "We talk on offense about setting the tone in the batters box and not letting the opposing pitcher do it. The flip side of that is our pitchers need to set that same tone. We definitely didn't do that in game two."
Shannon Smith (Channahon, Ill.) led Carson-Newman's offense. She drove in nine runs between the two games with a home run and four singles.
"I've said it multiple times," Graves said. "Shannon is a phenomenal hitter. Coach Toppel said earlier today, and it's true, that one of the things that makes Shannnon so good is that she just doesn't care who were playing. She's going to find her pitch and hit it as far as she can."
Katie Eakes (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) was 5-for-8 with her first career three-hit day and five runs batted in.
Meanwhile, KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) added in four runs scored and four runs driven in in a 3-for-7 day at the plate.
Carson-Newman extended its win streak out to seven straight games. The Eagles have scored at least nine runs in every game on the streak.
GAME ONE: Carson-Newman 9, Limestone 1 (five innings)
Leah Sohm (Knoxville, Tenn.) started Carson-Newman's offense to lead of the first. Sohm hit a rocket in and out of third baseman Madison Chappell's glove. Sohm then swiped second to get to 10 steals on the year and raced home to give C-N a 1-0 lead off a KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) rip back up the middle.
The Eagles added to the edge in the second thanks to a Limestone error. Keeley Quillen (Gate City, Va.) led off the inning with a walk and moved to third when Sohm dropped down a sacrifice bunt. The throw to first was muffed to allow Sohm to reach as well and move into scoring position.
Shannon Smith (Channahon, Ill.) took advantage of the miscue. The sophomore squibbed a seeing-eye single through the left side to plate both base runners and give C-N a 3-0 lead.
Limestone got its first hit off Rinus in the circle in the top of the fourth. Katie Wilbur singled through the right side to lead off the inning before moving to second on one-out ground out to third. Desiree Bain came through with a timely two-out knock to score Wilbur from two bases away and get the Saints within two runs, 3-1.
@lacierinus is an official member of the 600-K club for @cnsball with this punch-out
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 10, 2021
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Carson-Newman took advantage of the second Saint error in the bottom of the fourth. Levi reached on a fielding error at short and moved to third when Katie Eakes (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) slammed a double to centerfield.
The Eagles tallied back-to-back two-out hits when the Saints should have been out of the inning. Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) sent a single to centerfield to score one before Rinus knocked a ball with eyes through the left side of the infield to plate the second run of the frame. The Eagles led 5-1 after four.
Carson-Newman poured it on in the bottom of the fifth to win in walk-off run-rule fashion.
Smith tallied her third and fourth RBI of the day with a single up the middle. Eakes roped her third hit down the right field line to plate a pinch-running Karissa Schnitz (Smiths, Ala.) before Hughes walked it off with a SAC fly pop up into shallow right field.
Rinus dealt the complete for C-N to improve to 5-7. She gave up two hits, walked one and fanned seven.
Haley White took the loss for the Saints to fall to 4-3. She gave up 11 hits and nine runs in 4.2 innings. Of the nine runs she allowed, only three were earned.
White walked two, hit two and struck out two.
Eakes tallied her first three-hit day as an Eagle, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Smith logged a multi-hit effort with her fourth-career four-RBI day.
GAME TWO: Carson-Newman 15, Limestone 12
It was Limestone who struck first in the nightcap. The Saints got runners on second and third with a pair of singles and a fielding error in left. Audra Butler struck out with one out, but a passed ball allowed a go-ahead unearned run to come across to give the Saints a 1-0 lead.
Carson-Newman countered in the home half of the first taking advantage of a Saint error in the frame. Sohm reached on an E5 to open the frame and moved to third on a fly out to center.
After a two-out walk, Hughes stroked a single through the left side to score Sohm and level the score at a run apiece.
Limestone grabbed the lead back in the top of the third. After a one-out walk to Wilbur, Vic Brewington lofted a 2-1 pitch to straight away centerfield for her sixth home run of the year.
The two-run blast gave the Saints a 3-1 lead.
The Eagles countered in the bottom of the inning. Sohm led off with a slashing single up the middle, stole second and took third on a passed ball. After a walk to Levi and a steal by a pinch-running Schnitz, Smith roped a single to centerfield to score two and tie things up 3-3.
Carson-Newman wasn't done with the rally though, Rinus delivered C-N to a lead with a single up the middle to push C-N in front 4-3.
Saints catcher Peyton Yenchick came through in the top of the fourth. After a single down the left field line from Caroline Ruth, Yenchick smoked her first home run of the year to centerfield off a 1-0 pitch to put Limestone back in front 5-4.
Eakes countered with a long ball of her own in the home half of the fourth. Eakes smashed the first pitch she saw with the bases loaded over the wall in left center to give C-N its first grand slam in more than a year. Eakes clobbered her third home run of the season to push C-N in front 8-5.
Limestone got one back in the top of the fifth with an RBI single up the middle from Audra Butler before Leah Sohm turned a 6-3 double play off a line drive to end the threat and keep C-N up 8-6.
GRAND SLAM!!!!@KatieEakes10 sends this ball into orbit to give @cnsball a 3⃣-run lead
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 10, 2021
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Carson-Newman kept the foot on the offensive accelerator in the bottom of the fifth. KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) clobbered her 15th career home run to left. The three-run moon shot gave C-N an 11-6 cushion before Rinus extended it to 12-6 with a SAC fly to left.
The Eagles would need every bit of it as Limestone struck for four in the sixth and two in the seventh.
However, a KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) three-run blast in the bottom of the sixth provided just enough cushion to get the job done for C-N.
Makayla McCarthy (El Cajon, Calif.) collected the win in relief to improve to 2-0. She dealt two innings four hits and five runs allowed.
Morgen Baker-Celis came in with the bases loaded and no one out iin the seventh to log her first career save. She worked an inning and gave up a hit.
Carson-Newman returns to action Saturday at noon against Catawba. The doubleheader will be broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.
