VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference
WINGATE, N.C. – Carson-Newman (31-17) got the tying run in scoring position in the seventh, but couldn't collect one more timely knock as a defensive minded No. 25 Lenoir-Rhyne (37-12) prevailed 6-4 Thursday afternoon at the WU Softball Complex.
With the win, Lenoir-Rhyne squares off with Wingate at 10:30 a.m. Friday for the right to play in the championship game Saturday. The Eagles face elimination at 1 p.m. against Francis Marion, who lost 2-0 to Wingate.
"The same that has happened to us a lot happened again this game," Carson-Newman head coach Michael Graves said. "We didn't own the batters box offensively chasing balls out of the zone. Then, on the flip side, we didn't own the circle. We walked eight or nine people. I think we put on base five of the six runs that they scored."
Carson-Newman pitching in fact proffered eight free passes on the day. Of the six runs Lenoir-Rhyne scored on the day, five came as a result of a free base (four walks and one error) that C-N had issued.
Mary Vandergriff (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) and Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) had multi-hit days to pace Carson-Newman
Lenoir-Rhyne broke though first. The Bears loaded the bases in the bottom of the second with one out thanks to a pair of walks and a single through the left side from Anna Blume. A bases-loaded walk to Kaylan Brown brought in the first run before Katelyn Rackard skied a pitch to left center.
The runners had to hold as C-N centerfielder SieAnna Cameron (Alcoa, Tenn.) dived for the fly ball but couldn't come up with it. As a result, just one run scored before reliever Rylee Gattis (Southside, Ala.) retired the final two batters of the inning with fly balls to limit the damage to two runs.
Walks again aided the Bears in the third. LR loaded the bases without a hit thanks to two free passes sandwiching a a fielding error on a sacrifice bunt. With NicKolette Ferguson (Erwin, Tenn.) checking in to pitch, Lauren Jackson lofted a deep fly ball to right to plate a run with a sacrifice fly. The Bears played add on to stretch the lead to 4-0 with a double steal that scored Alycea Gilliam from third.
C-N was able to respond in the fifth to cut the deficit in half. The Eagles loaded the bases without an out. Carmen Holt (Lawrenceburg, Ky.) walked on seven pitches to lead off the inning before Mary Vandergriff (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) and Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) slashed singles up the middle and to left.
After a fielder's choice cut down a run at the plate, Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly to right. Back-to-back walks for Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) and Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange, Conn.) made it a two-run game, 4-2. Hayden Dye (Knoxville, Tenn.) nearly leveled the score with a hit to no-man's land in left center, but Rackard contorted her body ranging back from short to make a dandy of a play and keep the Bears in front 4-2.
The Bears answered in the bottom of the fifth when Lora Beth Wood led off the inning with blast to center field. LR put two in scoring position with an infield single to short, a walk and a wild pitch. Brown bounced a ball over third base to push the lead back to four runs.
The Eagles answered with a run in the top of the sixth. Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) led of the inning getting plunked. She moved to second on a groundout and scored when Vandergriff ripped a base hit through the right side to cut the lead to 6-3.
Carson-Newman loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with two outs thanks to singles from Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) and Warder sandwiched around a walk to Dye. Holt kept the rally moving with a two-out infield single to second to drive in a run and put the tying run in scoring position. However, a pop up ended the Eagles' rally and cemented the final at 6-4.
Syerra Rogers (Graysville, Tenn.) took the loss for C-N to fall to 9-6. She pitched the first 1.1 innings, allowing two earned runs off four walks and a hit.
Morgan Beeler collected the win for the Bears to improve to 23-4. She scattered eight hits and walked six herself (granted three of them were to the nation's leader in RBI Bailey).
C-N faces elimination Thursday at 1 p.m. against Francis Marion.
