VIDEO: Michael Graves Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
VIDEO: Rylee Gattis Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (25-7, 10-4 South Atlantic Conference) and Lincoln Memorial (25-16, 9-5 SAC) both used timely two-out hitting to collect wins Wednesday night at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex in a doubleheader split.
The Eagles took a pitchers' duel in game one 2-1 before the Railsplitters took the nightcap in extra innings, 10-6.
Rylee Gattis (Southside, Ala.) kept LMU off balance, limiting the Railsplitters to four hits in the game-one victory.
"The biggest high today was Gattis," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "The kid has been working hard, and her work ethic is second to none. She wants to win, and it's clear because she's doing extra stuff, and you can obviously see a change. She needs to cut down on the walks, but if she continues to give that effort, the future is really bright for her."
However, the Railsplitters scored six times with two away, poking eight two-out hits in the nightcap to salvage the split in the night cap. LMU took advantage of a season-high four Carson-Newman errors to stave off the Eagles rally in the nightcap.
"For the first time all year, our defensive let us down," Graves said. "I'm not worried about it because we've played such good defense all year long. I have full faith that will recover moving forward."
With the win in game one, Carson-Newman tallied its first win over Lincoln Memorial since 2018, snapping a 10-game losing streak to LMU.
GAME ONE: Carson-Newman 2, Lincoln Memorial 1
Carson-Newman lit the lamp first with timely two-out hitting in the third. SieAnna Cameron (Alcoa, Tenn.) bunted herself aboard with a single to third. Then, on the first pitch of her at-bat, Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) sent a lazer beam to right center for a double that scored Cameron from three bases away to give C-N a 1-0 lead.
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Two-out hitting was once again the thing for the Eagles in the fifth. Hughes pounded a single through the left side before scoring from three bases away when Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) pounded a double off the wall in left center for her 49th RBI of the season that gave C-N a 2-0 lead.
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— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) March 29, 2023
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LMU responded with a run in the top of the sixth. After back-to-back one out walks, Kelsie Tuggle loaded the bases with a single stung through the left side. Reese Vivrette delivered a run for the Railsplitters with a sacrifice fly to left center to make it 2-1.
The Railsplitters got the tying run on base in the seventh with a one-out walk, but Rylee Gattis (Southside, Ala.) induced a fly ball to left and a line out back to the circle to cement the win.
Gattis improved to 9-3 with the effort. She scattered four hits and struck out three while walking six.
Emma Frost took the loss for LMU, falling to 13-8. She gave up just five hits while walking two and fanning three.
LMU was 1-for-12 with runners on base and 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
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GAME TWO: Lincoln Memorial 10, Carson-Newman 6 (eight innings)
LMU struck first in the night cap with big bats. Madison Henry led off the game with a single to left and took second on a sacrifice. She scored on a one-out double to right center from Sterre den Duijn before McKenzie Henry clobbered a 3-1 pitch over the fence in left field for her fifth blast of the season for a 3-0 LMU lead after the first half inning.
Carson-Newman responded in the bottom of the first, getting a run back. Hughes and Bailey got on with one-out infield singles before Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange, Conn.) hammered a double to left center to pull the Eagles within two runs, 3-1.
The Railsplitters stretched it back to three runs in the second thanks to an error. Gracie Palmer reached on a two-out throwing error at short and scored a batter later when Madison Henry doubled to the alley in left center to stretch the lead to 4-1 off an unearned run.
C-N made inroads into the deficit in the third. After a leadoff walk for Hughes and a single for Bailey, a fielder's choice put the first out on the board. However, Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) laced a double back up the box to score one before Hayden Dye (Knoxville, Tenn.) grooved a single through the left side to pull the Eagles within a run, 4-3.
LMU extended the lead in odd fashion. Victoria Conley led off the with a ball to the wall in right field. When Mary Vandergriff (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) went to field it, her left foot got tangled in the base of the fence, trapping her an arm-length away from the ball. The ensnarement allowed Conley to race around the bases and score an inside-the-park home run.
The Railsplitters added another insurance run in the seventh. After a lead off single, a sacrifice and a flyout, LMU had a runner on second for Reese Vivrette. She bounced a ball that Dye knocked down at short, seemingly to keep runners on the corners. However, as Dye got to her feet, she flicked the ball into left allowing a pinch-running Rilie Maupin to sprint home for an unearned run and a 6-3 lead.
C-N was able to rally in the bottom of the seventh to force extras. Cameron and Hughes started the inning with walks, after a strikeout, Matyasovsky grooved the first pitch she saw down the left field line to tie the game off her eighth blast of the season.
However, it would be LMU who would laugh last. The Railsplitters scored four times with two outs in the top of the eighth to seal a wild 10-6 win.
NicKollette Ferguson (Erwin, Tenn.) took the loss in relief to drop to 4-2. She gave up six hits and five runs, two earned, in 2.1 innings of work.
Frost collected the win in relief to improve to 14-8. She pitched the final two innings, giving up two hits and a run.
Carson-Newman sits a game back of first-place Wingate. The Eagles and Bulldogs collide at noon Saturday at the WU Softball Complex.
