LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For a second straight year, the Carson-Newman softball program has placed two student-athletes on the NFCA's National Player & Pitcher of the Year Watchlist.
Freshman Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) and SieAnna Cameron (Alcoa, Tenn.) both represent Carson-Newman for the Tucci/NFCA watchlist. A year ago, it was Emily Harris and Leah Sohm who were placed on the list.
Both Bailey and Cameron have been swinging prolifically hot bats all season long.
Cameron's .506 batting average leads the South Atlantic Conference and ranks ninth nationally. The junior from Alcoa has tallied a whopping 14 multi-hit games on the year, including a pair of four-hit days against Shorter (Feb. 12) and Newberry (March 18). She has seven two-hit efforts and five three-hit efforts.
She ranks eighth in the league with 44 hits and 37th nationally, and is tops in the conference in both runs scored per game (1.19) and on-base percentage (.547). She ranks 24th and 22nd, respectively, nationally for those two categories.
Cameron's riding a six-game hitting streak that has brought her batting average back north of .500. It sank to a season-low .462 following an 0-for-4 day against Catawba (the only game in her last 12 where she was hitless). She responded by hitting successfully in 12 of her next 15 tripes to the plate.
TURN. TWO. SIEANNA. CAMERON.
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) April 29, 2022
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Among her 44 knocks, she counts three doubles and a triple. She has driven in 17 out of the leadoff spot.
Cameron ranks seventh in the SAC with her 11 stolen bases.
Bailey is having one of the best seasons at the plate for a freshman in Carson-Newman softball history. The catcher, turned first baseman, turned designated player is chasing the first triple crown in the history of the South Atlantic Conference.
She leads the SAC in RBI and ranks second nationally with 49, ranks second in the SAC in home runs and 16rh nationally with 10 and is third in batting average with a .451 tally.
Bailey has driven in a run in 12 of her last 14 games and has 13 games this year where she has driven in multiple runs.
Bailey is halfway to Carson-Newman's single-season home run record. Brittany Hefner is the single-season record-holder with 19. Bailey has 10 through 32 of Carson-Newman's scheduled 48 regular season games. Bailey is the second Eagle freshman (Abby Fiessinger is the other) to homer 10 times in her first season on the banks of Mossy Creek.
Bailey rides a 14-game hitting streak, with the exception of an 0-for-15 streak at the plate at the NFCA Leadoff Classic, Bailey has a hit in every game this season. On her 14-game streak, she has nine multi-hit efforts, which has brought her batting average up from a season-low .345 at the end of February to its present .451 mark.
She has driven in four runs on four occasions this season, doing so against Maryville (Feb. 10), Shorter (Feb. 12), North Greenville (March 9) and at UVA Wise (March 16).
She is just the sixth player for Carson-Newman in the last decade to homer in three consecutive games, running that streak against Shorter, USC Beaufort and Emmanuel from Feb. 12-18.
The Cross Plains, Tenn.-native has a pair of two-home runs days, clobbering a pair of blasts against both Mars Hill (Feb. 22) and Maryville (Feb. 10).
We love goahead �� @cnsball x @macauleybailey x #TalonsUp pic.twitter.com/uqnfJMYuD9
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) March 2, 2023
In terms of national rankings, Bailey sits in second in sacrifice flies (5), fourth in RBI per game (1.53) and 17th in hits (46). Her .853 slugging percentage is second in the SAC and 23rd nationally.
The pair is half of the South Atlantic Conference's representation on the list. Lenoir-Rhyne pitcher Morgan Beeler and Anderson first baseman Kayson Boatner join them on the listing.
Carson-Newman, North Georgia and Georgia Southwestern are the only schools from the Southeast Region with multiple players listed.
New in 2023, the list is broken down into the eight NCAA Regions (Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast and West) with up to 15 student-athletes represented in each region. The list is compiled and the award is voted on by the elected members of the NFCA Division II All-American Committee with one head coach representing each of the eight NCAA regions. To be eligible, a student-athlete's head coach must be a member.
Voted on by the NFCA's Division II All-American Committee, the 2023 Tucci/NFCA Player and Pitcher of the Year will be announced on June 1. All student-athletes are eligible for the end-of-the-season award and do not have to be on this list to be considered.
Southeast Region
Macauley Bailey, Carson-Newman, C, Fr.
Morgan Beeler, Lenoir-Rhyne, P, Sr.
Kayson Boatner, Anderson, 1B, Sr.
SieAnna Cameron, Carson-Newman, OF, Jr.
Courtlynn Cooney, Mount Olive, OF, Jr.
Hannah Rose Corbin, Columbus State, UT-P, Sr.
Makayla Cuthbertson, Francis Marion, SS, Jr.
Kristen Davis, North Georgia, P, Jr.
Mattie Edwards, Emmanuel, P, Jr.
Delaney Heaberlin, North Georgia, P, Jr.
Sophie Mooney, North Georgia, DP, Jr.
Lexis Wilkinson, North Greenville, OF, So.
Zoe Willis, Georgia Southwestern, P, Jr.
Katelyn Wood, Georgia Southwestern, 3B, Sr.
