MARS HILL, N.C. – Carson-Newman (12-1, 2-0 South Atlantic Conference) hit five home runs and Syerra Rogers (Graysville, Tenn.) struck out 15 in the night cap to power Carson-Newman to a sweep of Mars Hill (5-8, 0-2 SAC) Wednesday afternoon at Ponder Field.
The Eagles run-ruled the Lions 11-2 in the opening game before Rogers took over for a 5-0 complete-game, one-hit shutout in the night cap. The 15 strikeouts are the second most for a single-game in school history, tied with Alli Webster's 15-strikeout performance in 2016 at Tusculum.
"I loved the way we came out with a purpose in game one," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "I thought both starting pitchers had a good day today. I still want to keep working on eliminating walks, but thought they were in control of the games all day. Syerra was throwing hard and was tremendous."
A ball didn't make it out of the infield on Rogers.
At the plate, Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) and Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange, Conn.) clobbered two home runs, while Mary Vandergriff (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) went yard for the second time in her career against Mars Hill.
"Offensively, we had a lot of hits and seemed like most girls had multi hits across both games." Graves said. "We are still dealing with some injury problems and it seems we have used a different lineup every game. It really helps when we can get contributions from lots of girls. We have a big weekend coming up and I believe we can keep this rolling along."
GAME ONE: Carson-Newman 11, Mars Hill 2 (five innings)
Carson-Newman took advantage of its scoring opportunities early against the Lions. C-N loaded the bases in the first inning off a single, a fielding error and a walk with one out. Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly to centerfield and a 1-0 lead after the opening half inning.
C-N kept at it in the second with small ball tactics. Mary Vandergriff (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) led off the inning with an infield single to third. After a flyout, Mari Robbins (Sweetwater, Tenn.) dropped down a sacrifice bunt attempt. First and foremost, she beat the throw to first to leg out a bunt single, then the throw got away from the Lions first baseman and kicked around into right field.
Vandergriff alertly sprinted around third and slid home to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. After Robbins took third on a wild pitch, SieAnna Cameron (Alcoa, Tenn.) dropped down a squeeze bunt to sacrifice in Robbins and give C-N a 3-0 lead after two.
It was once more Vandergriff who factored into the scoring in the third. Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) and Warder started the inning with singles to center and left. After a strikeout, Vandergriff planted a 1-1, two-out pitch over the wall in left to stake C-N to a 6-0 lead.
C-N scored for a fourth straight inning in the fourth. Robbins led off the inning getting plunked. She stole second, then scored when Cameron bounced a ball back up the middle of the infield to give C-N a 7-0 lead. C-N continued to apply offensive pressure with a Bailey sacrifice fly and a Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange, Conn.) two-run home run to extend the lead to 10-0. An Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) RBI single to right finished the five-run frame for C-N and gave the Eagles an 11-0 lead.
Mars Hill scored twice in the fifth inning, but couldn't push across four runs to extend the game.
Rylee Gattis (Southside, Ala.) improved to 3-1 in the circle with the win. She dealt the first four innings of the game, allowing two hits in those four scoreless innings. She walked three and struck out one. NicKolette Ferguson (Erwin, Tenn.) fired the final frame, giving up three hits and two runs, one earned.
Alyssa Poston took the loss for MHU to fall to 3-1. She pitched the first 3.1 innings. She gave up eight hits and 10 runs, however only five of those were earned. She walked one and struck out three.
Carson-Newman saw its leadoff batter reach in four of the five innings. The Eagles were 4-of-10 at the plate with runners in scoring position and scored every runner (four) that it had on third with less than two out.
GAME TWO: Carson-Newman 5, Mars Hill 0
Carson-Newman got on the board in the first inning again. This time via the long ball. Bailey drilled her sixth home run of the season over the wall in right for an opposite field home run with two outs.
The Eagles were stuck in the offensive doldrums until breaking through in the sixth. Bailey and Matyasovsky drilled back-to-back home runs to lead off the sixth. Carson-Newman kept on the pressure after a groundout with a single to left from Hayden Dye (Knoxville, Tenn.). She stole second and then took third when Syerra Rogers (Graysville, Tenn.) singled to left. The pair pulled off a double steal with Dye scoring to make it a 4-0 lead.
Carmen Holt (Lawrenceburg, Ky.) finished the four-run inning with an RBI single to right that set the final margin at 5-0.
Rogers collected the win to improve to 4-0. While she did strike out 15, she also walked eight. Of her 15 strikeouts, only two were looking. Rogers has only allowed one hit in her last 10 innings of work.
Kristyn Ezzo took the loss for Mars Hill to fall to 1-3. She worked the first five innings, giving up six hits and three runs, all earned. She struck out five and walked one. Half the hits she allowed were home runs.
Carson-Newman hits the road for the NFCA Kickoff Classic in Columbus, Ga. All five games will be available on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.
