JEFFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – No. 21 Carson-Newman (27-9, 8-6 South Atlantic Conference) steps out of league action to renew an old NAIA rivalry Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex.
Carson-Newman will try to run its non-conference win streak to double digits when Lee (18-15, 11-9 Gulf South Conference) comes to town.
C-N head coach Michael Graves needs one more win to get his 100th at the helm of the C-N softball program. Graves is 99-44, a .692 win percentage.
The Orange and Blue has gone 4-0 against the Gulf South this season with wins over Mississippi College, Shorter, West Alabama and Delta State.
Carson-Newman is 27-16 all-time against the league, with 13 of the wins and five of the losses coming against LMU when it was a member from 1992-06.
Carson-Newman faces Lee for the second time in 28 years when the two teams get together Wednesday. The Flames swept a 2020 doubleheader in Cleveland. The Eagles dominated the series before moving to NCAA. Carson-Newman won 10 of the 12 meetings from 1990-94. C-N shut out the Flames in five of those meetings. Carson-Newman's average score in the 10 wins over the Flames was 8.3-1.2.
Emily Harris has cracked the 300-hit threshold for her career as NCAA Division II's active leader for hits. She needs four more hits (she sits on 309) to start moving up the top 25 list for career hits in NCAA Division II history.
Carson-Newman ranks in the top 10 nationally in 10 offensive categories. The Eagles are second in doubles per game (2.36). Carson-Newman ranks third in doubles (85), hits (400), and runs scored (299). C-N is fifth in on-base percentage (.449) and triples (21). C-N checks in in fourth in runs per game (8.31) and batting average (.380). The Eagles are sixth in triples per game (.58) and eighth in slugging (.573)
Macey Hughes is third in the country with 52 RBI this season. Hughes has four games this year with at least four RBI and three with five or more. If Hughes maintains her average of 1.44 RBI per game, she could catch Brittany Hefner (2013) for the most RBI in a single season in SAC and school history (75).
Hughes has hit 11 home runs this season, she has the 17th doubledigit home run season in school history. Her next home run will give her 12, and put her in a tie with Sara Little, Bre Lockett, Sara Kelley, Mary Shealy and Erin Rutherford for the fifth-most in a single season.
Emily Harris and Leah Sohm are two of the most prodigious hitters in the country. Harris ranks third with 60 knocks, while Sohm is sixth with 57. They are one and two in the league for most hits this season and have two of the four highest batting averages in the conference.
Lee is the best defensive team in the Gulf South with a .967 fielding percentage. The Flames rank sixth in the country with 15 sacrifice flies.
First pitch between the Eagles and Flames is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday. Coverage is available on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.
