WINGATE, N.C. – Carson-Newman (30-15) carried a no-hitter through four innings and scored six times in the final four innings to run away from Newberry (29-19) 7-1 in an elimination game at the opening rounds of the SAC Softball Championship Saturday morning at the WU Softball Complex.
The Wolves run in the SAC Championships reaches its conclusion. The Eagles advance to face Wingate at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The Eagles would need to win twice more Saturday against Wingate to advance to the SAC Championship Series Wednesday and Thursday.
Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) and Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) led C-N at the plate with a pair of three-hit days. Bailey hit her 15th home run and came within a triple of the cycle. Warder had a double and an RBI.
Syerra Rogers (Graysville, Tenn.) and NicKolette Ferguson (Erwin, Tenn.) combined to carry a no-hitter into the fourth inning.
Carson-Newman got on the board first in the top of the second inning. Hayden Dye (Knoxville, Tenn.) clobbered a 3-2 pitch over the fence in left to put the Eagles ahead 1-0 with one out in the second. It was Dye's third home run of the season, all three have come at the WU Softball Complex.
SEE YOU LATER
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) April 29, 2023
For the third time this season, @haydendye4 has homered at the WU Softball Complex
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The Eagles played add on in the fourth. After a leadoff strikeout, Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) banged a double off the wall in center field, missing a home run by two feet. Carmen Holt followed with a single through the right side and took second on the throw to give the Eagles a pair in scoring position.
Mary Vandergriff (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) drove in both runs with a single roped down the right field line to put the Eagles ahead 3-0.
Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) drilled her 15th home run of the season to lead off the top of the fifth. She clobbered the first pitch she saw to left center. The big bash moved her into a tie for second with Staci Fish (2001) for the second most home runs in a single season in Carson-Newman history.
�� WE HAVE LIFTOFF ��@MacauleyBailey is tied with Staci Fish for the second most home runs in a season in school history with her 15th blast of the year
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) April 29, 2023
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Newberry broke up Carson-Newman's no-hit bid and shutout in the bottom of the fifth. Vanessa Wilson walked to lead off the inning. After a strikeout, Amber Dalfonso broke up the no-hit bid with a single tipped off pitcher NicKolette Ferguson's (Erwin, Tenn.) glove in the circle. After a fielder's choice got the lead runner at third, Sierra Brogdon looped a single into center to plate Dalfonso with two out. Mackenzie Turner couldn't keep the line moving with a fly out and C-N led 4-1 through five.
C-N stretched the lead back to four runs and then some in the top of the seventh. Bailey hit a one-out single back up the box before being pinch-run for by Mari Robbins (Sweetwater, Tenn.). Robbins swiped second and took third on a throwing error by the catcher. She scored on a line drive to center from Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange, Conn.) that stretched the Eagles' lead to 5-1.
Warder and Carmen Holt (Lawrenceburg, Ky.) followed with an RBI single through the left side and a two-out RBI double to the wall in left to set the final margin at 7-1.
Rogers picked up the win with a 3.0-inning start to improve to 9-5. She didn't allow a hit in her three innings, but had to work around six walks.
Ferguson earned her second save with four innings of relief. She scattered four hits and gave up a run.
Olivia Chestnut took the loss for Newberry to fall to 11-4. She pitched 4.0 innings allowing seven hits and four runs. She walked two and fanned five. Of the seven hits she allowed, four were for extra bases.
Carson-Newman takes on Wingate at approximately 1 p.m. Saturday and would need to beat the Bulldogs twice on the day to advance to the SAC championship series.
