VIDEO: Michael Graves Interview
COLUMBUS, Ga. – Carson-Newman (15-3) pounced on three Ohio Dominican (5-9) errors to take full advantage of scant opportunities and grit out a 4-2 win to close out the NFCA Leadoff Classic at the South Commons Complex, Sunday morning.
"Well, I think we got out to a little slow start," Carson-Newman head coach Michael Graves said. "We were moving slow, bat speed was slow, defensive was a little slow early on. After the start, I think we realized what we had to do to win the game."
Carson-Newman was 4-for-11 with runners on bases (.364). C-N only drove in two runs, the other two runs scored on ODU errors.
Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) and Hayden Dye (Knoxville, Tenn.) tallied the lone RBI on the day for C-N.
Ohio Dominican struck first with a two-out rally in the top of the first. Alexis Stevens plunked a two-out bloop single to left center. Then, Braxton Downs kicked a bloop single into the exact same spot. With Stevens running on the pitch, she was able to score from three bases away to give ODU a 1-0 lead after one.
Carson-Newman responded in the bottom of the second. Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange, Conn.) led off the inning with a single through the left side before Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) got hit by a pitch. After a strikeout, Hayden Dye (Knoxville, Tenn.) ripped a ball to centerfield. It rolled underneath the centerfielder's glove allowing both Matyasovsky and Warder to score to give C-N a 2-1 lead.
The Eagles added insurance in the bottom of the fifth. After a leadoff strikeout, Carmen Holt (Lawrenceburg, Ky.) reached on a fielding error at first. Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) slipped a ball through the left side to give the Eagles runners on first and second.
Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) bashed a ball back up the box to score Holt. Hughes then stole second, and a throwing error by the Panthers' catcher allowed Martin to stride in from third to give C-N a 4-1 lead.
ODU got a run back in the top of the sixth. Stevens and Downs single up the left field line and back through the middle of the infield, respectively, to give the Panthers two base runners without an out. Liana Morreale drilled a double down the right field line to plate Stevens. However, Gattis got a ground out and a strikeout to end the threat.
The freshman logged the win in the circle to improve to 5-2. She scattered nine hits in her seven innings of work. Gattis struck out four and only allowed one free pass – a hit batter. ODU was just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position against her. The majority of the hits she surrendered could be considered duck flatulence, only allowing one extra-base hit.
"This last game of the weekend was probably the worst one of the weekend, but we still found a way to win," Graves said. "Hopefully we can head home and get two more wins to start conference play and put us sitting pretty. There's a lot of good teams down here that would've liked to have the weekend we had."
Marlee Jacobs was stuck with the loss for ODU. She falls to 3-2 after working the complete game. Half of the four runs she allowed were earned. She scattered five hits, walked one and fanned four.
Downs led the Panthers at the plate, she was 3-for-3.
Carson-Newman returns home to The Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex Wednesday at noon to hop back into SAC play against Coker. Coverage is available on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live. A paid video stream is available through FloSports.
