VIDEO: Michael Graves Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
VIDEO: Morgen Baker-Celis Interview
VIDEO: Macey Hughes Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – No. 21 Carson-Newman (27-9, 8-6 South Atlantic Conference) tallied a pair of walk-off wins to snap a four-game losing streak Saturday at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex.
The Eagles beat Wingate (24-15, 6-6 SAC) 5-4 in traditional walk-off fashion with a two-out, two-run double from Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) in game one before scoring six times in the bottom of the sixth to collect a walk-off run-rule win in the night cap 14-6.
"I think our approach in the batter's box was a lot better," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "We didn't chase many bad pitches today and when we are aggressive in the count on early strikes, good things happen. Syerra is a great example of that with her pinch-hit home run in game one."
The Eagles ran their win streak to four straight over the Bulldogs and collected their first run-rule win over Wingate since an 8-0 win in the SAC tournament in 2012.
C-N smacked seven doubles in the night cap and pounded out 10 total for the doubleheader. The seven doubles are the third most in a game in school history. The Eagles had 29 total hits for the doubleheader – including 19 in the night cap. It goes down as the third-most hits in a league-game in school history and the eighth most overall.
Morgen Baker-Celis (Kentfield, Calif.) collected a win and a save in the circle. The senior pitcher struck out four in 2.2 innings of shutout relief work. NicKollette Ferguson (Erwin, Tenn.) got her first start since the opening weekend of the season and logged a quality start to get a win in the nightcap.
"Ferguson had been doing really well in practice keeping the ball down," Graves said. "She did a good job of that early, but it started coming up late and she also walked a couple people, which she hadn't been doing at all. I was proud of her though for giving us a quality start in game two. Morgen came in. She was successful against them last year, we knew she was going to be our firehose to shut them down and she did just that."
Emily Harris (Cumming) logged her 21st and 22nd multi-hit efforts of the year to pace the offense. She was 5-for-7 at the plate to nudge her season average back above .500. She drove in four runs and had two doubles for the series.
Hughes and Natalie Corbin (Tybee Island, Ga.) also had four hits for the series.
GAME ONE: No. 21 Carson-Newman 5, Wingate 4
Wingate snagged an early lead four pitches into the game. Sara Stroud led off the contest by jacking a 2-1 pitch over the fence in center to stake Wingate to an early 1-0 lead.
The Bulldogs would once again use the long ball to extend the lead in the third. Heaven Maness led off the frame exploding her seventh home run of the season on the first pitch over the left center field fence to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 edge.
Carson-Newman got a run back in the bottom of the third. Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) led off the inning with a single to right. She took second on a Natalie Corbin (Tybee Island, Ga.) sacrifice. Emily Harris (Cumming, Ga.) drove her in on a bloop double that spun in to foul ground along the left field line to make it a 2-1 game after three.
The Bulldogs stretched it to a three-run game in the top of the sixth thanks to an RBI single for Heaven Maness to right and a SAC squeeze bunt from Savanna Brooks.
C-N got a run back in the bottom of the sixth. Harris tallied a one-out single up the middle before Hughes got plunked. After an infield fly, Carmen Holt (Lawrenceburg, Ky.) stroked a two-out single to center to plate Harris.
The Eagles rallied in the seventh to complete the comeback and secure their fourth walk-off win of the year.
Syerra Rogers (Graysville, Tenn.) started the inning with a pinch-hit dinger. The freshman clobbered the first pitch of her at-bat to left to pull the Eagles within one, 4-3. The pinch-hit blast was just the third pinch-hit home run for C-N in the last 12 years, and the first since Makayla McCarthy tanked one last year at UVA Wise.
�� WALK-OFF ALERT ��@MaceyHughes5 with the big-time double as C-N completes the comeback
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) April 2, 2022
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FINAL
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After a fly out to right, Corbin sneaked a single through the right side of the infield. A fly out to center put the second out on the board. Carson-Newman was down to its final strike on the next two batters before winning.
Harris wore a 3-2 pitch to put the winning run on board. Then, on the eighth pitch of her AB, after fouling off three pitches, Hughes blooped a ball to right. When it landed, it took a hard side-spin hop away from the right fielder allowing both runs to score and C-N to win.
Sara King (Cumming, Ga.) started and took a no decision. She pitched the first six innings. She gave up 11 hits and four runs, all earned. She struck out nine and walked four – however, she also stranded 11 Wingate base runners. The Bulldogs were just 3-of-15 with runners in scoring position.
Baker-Celis picked up the win in an inning of relief work. She retired all three batters she faced to improve to 3-0 on the year.
GAME TWO: Carson-Newman 14, Wingate 6 (six innings)
Wingate once again used the long ball to take an early lead. After a lead off walk, a ground out and a pop up to short, Hannah Reeves clobbered a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left to put Wingate up 2-0 after the first half inning.
Carson-Newman countered immediately. C-N scored six times off six hits in the inning. Harris started it with a two-RBI triple, her first three-base hit of the season. C-N kept at it with RBI singles from Hughes and Holt, as well as an RBI double from Warder. On Warder's double, a throwing error in right let Mary Vandergriff (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) slide in to make it a 6-2 edge for C-N after one.
Wingate answered with another blast in the second. Reagan Liles took the first pitch of her at-bat out of the park to left to cut the lead to 6-4.
The Eagles padded their lead in the fifth. After a lead-off single from Corbin, Harris slashed a double to left center to stretch the Eagles' lead to 7-4.
The Bulldogs got two back in the top of the fifth off an RBI double from Maness and an RBI single through the left side from Reaves to cut the deficit to one, 7-6.
C-N countered in the bottom of the fifth with a controversial run. Hayden Dye (Powell, Tenn.) led off the inning with a triple to right. In the next at-bat, Holt hit a ground ball to first. The Bulldogs came home with a high throw that the umpires ruled to have come out of the catcher's mitt when she applied the tag to Dye after initially ruling that Dye was out. When the call was overturned, the Eagles led 8-6.
The orange and blue then scored six times in the bottom of the sixth to win it in walk-off run-rule fashion. Sohm and Harris started the spurt by reaching on back-to-back bunt singles.
The pair pulled off a double steal of second and third when an errant throw by the catcher allowed both to score. Harris was initially tagged out as took home from three bases away, but was called saved thanks to obstruction.
Hughes smoked a double down the left field line before scoring on a Hot single up the middle.
An RBI single from Vandergriff and an RBI double from Warder followed to set the table for Corbin to end it.
The junior spun a ball to the left field line to plate Warder from two bases away and hand C-N the 14-6 run-rule win.
2️⃣ games
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) April 2, 2022
2️⃣ walk-off wins
C-N gets the run-rule win with a 6️⃣ run sixth inning.
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FINAL (6 innings)
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Ferguson pitched the first 4.1 innings to improve to 3-1 with the win. She gave up four hits (three of which were for extra bases) and six runs, all earned.
Baker-Celis fanned four in her 1.2 innings of relief to log her second career save.
Hali Scott dropped to 6-4 with the loss. She pitched the first third of an inning, giving up five his and five runs, all earned.
Carson-Newman returns home Wednesday to take on Lee at 1 p.m. Coverage is available on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.
