VIDEO: WV State Highlights
VIDEO: Michael Graves interview
VIDEO: Macey Hughes Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) hit two home runs and drove in nine as Carson-Newman (11-3) split two games between King (3-2) and West Virginia State (1-3) Friday at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex.
King out-slugged the Eagles 12-8 to start the day before the Eagles pounded WVSU 11-1 in a run-rule win in the final contest of the night.
"Our offense was the key to getting us going again," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "You score eight runs, that should be enough to get the job done – that should win us ball games. We left the ball up and King took advantage of it."
Hughes was electric at the plate. She went 4-for-6 between the two games. She hit a two-run blast against the Tornado in the seventh to keep the Eagles' hopes alive before logging an inside-the-park home run against the Yellowjackets in the night cap.
It was one of two inside-the-park home runs – Leah Sohm (Knoxville, Tenn.) had the other - for C-N against the Yellowjackets.
"If Hayden Dye and Macey Hughes are the slowest people in our line up, we have a pretty fast team," Graves said with a laugh. "I can't repeat that ever again (so we decided to put this quote in print to immortalize it). It's fun to watch. That puts a ton of pressure on teams and I would argue, and this may sound crazy, that we need to be even more aggressive taking extra bases."
Syerra Rogers (Graysville, Tenn.) logged a career-high eight strikeouts in the nightcap.
"She carried over some stuff that she was dealing with coming into her freshman year," Graves said. "We're slowly getting her past that. When she doesn't walk people and has command, she's really a tough pitcher to beat. What she did to State today was really impressive because that's a good team."
GAME ONE: King 12, Carson-Newman 8
King grabbed the lead early via the long ball. Haylee Dye poked a one-out single back up the box to set the table for Carly Turner who poked a 2-0 pitch over the fence in right center to give the Tornado a 2-0 lead.
Carson-Newman responded immediately. Leah Sohm (Knoxville, Tenn.), Emily Harris (Cumming, Ga.) and Hayden Dye (Powell, Tenn.) loaded the bases with a one-out single to center and a pair of one-out walks.
That set the table for Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) to slash a base hit to center to tie the game with a two-RBI single. Syerra Rogers (Graysville, Tenn.) then gave the Eagles the lead with an RBI fielder's choice to third. Mary Vandergriff (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) rounded out the scoring with an RBI fielder's choice to short to set the Eagles up 4-2.
King responded with another one-out home run in the top of the second as Samantha Helms homered to left center to pull the Tornado within a run 4-3.
Carson-Newman took advantage of King miscues to get a run back in the bottom of the second. Leah Sohm reached base with two outs on a fielding error at third. She moved to second on an infield single to short by Harris and then scored on both a fielding error and throwing error at short to give C-N a 5-3 lead.
The Tornado got its third one-out home run in the top of the third. Haylee Dye cranked the first pitch she saw over the wall in left for a solo home run to pull King back within a run 5-4.
Once, more Carson-Newman got the run back. Vandergriff hit an infield single to short and moved to second on a Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) ground out. SieAnna Cameron (Alcoa, Tenn.) came through with the timely two-out hit to plate Vandergriff on a single to center that extended the lead back to 6-4.
King pulled ahead in the top of the fifth. Erin Foster led off the inning with a walk before Haylee Dye singled up the middle. That set the table for Turner who slammed a double off the wall in left to pull King within a run 6-5.
Lauren Lawson followed with a two-run double to the wall in right center that gave King a 7-6 edge.
The Tornado played add on in the sixth, scoring five runs off five hits. A two-out bases-clearing double from Lawson keyed the outburst that put King up 12-6 after 5.5 innings.
Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) smashed a one-out, two-run home run to set the final margin at 12-8.
Sara King (Cumming, Ga.) took her first loss of the season to fall to 6-1. She worked the first 5.0 innings, surrendering eight hits and eight runs, all earned. Of the eight hits she gave up, six were for extra bases.
Nicole Counts got the complete game win to improve to 1-1. She gave up eight hits and eight runs, seven earned with three walks and three strikeouts.
Dye was 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and four runs scored. Lawson drove in five runs for King.
Hughes had the lone multi-hit and multi-RBI effort for C-N with two hits and four drive in.
GAME TWO: Carson-Newman 11, West Virginia State 1 (five innings)
Much like game one, West Virginia State used the long ball to get up on C-N. Emma Ruth took a 2-0 pitch over the 220-marker in center for a 1-0 Yellowjackets lead.
It would be short-lived. A two-out single from Harris and an error that allowed Dye to reach set the table for Hughes. She blooped a two-out single to plate both runners and give C-N a 2-1 lead.
Carson-Newman added to it in the bottom of the second when Sohm hit her second career inside-the-park home run to the left center field alley way. The three-run shot put the Eagles up 5-1.
C-N kept the foot to the accelerator with a two-out rally. Dye tallied a two-out RBI double to right before Hughes hit the second inside-the-park home run of the inning down the right field line to give C-N an 8-1 lead off the two-run knock.
The Eagles got two more in the bottom of the third. Cameron knocked an infield single to second to score the first before back-to-back bunt singles loaded the bases. Hughes got plunked with the bases juiced to drive in her fifth run of the day and give C-N a 10-1 lead.
Vandergriff added the final run for C-N when she scored as Cameron got thrown out at second on a steal attempt.
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— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) February 18, 2022
Leah Sohm with the inside the park home run to blow this one open!
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Rogers improved to 3-1 in the circle. She struck out a career-high eight and allowed two walks and just two hits.
Morgan Shoemaker got the loss to fall to 1-1 after a 1.2-inning start. She gave up five hits and six runs, four earned before ceding way to Autumn Thompson who worked the final 2.1 innings, giving up nine hits and five runs.
Hughes had another banner day going 2-for-2 with five RBI. Cameron had her third career three-hit day, while Carmen Holt (Lawrenceburg, Ky.) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Carson-Newman wraps up the Eagle Invitational with games Saturday at 10 a.m. and noon. All contests will be available on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.
