WINGATE, N.C. - Playing its third game of the day, Carson-Newman (31-16) bowed out of the South Atlantic Conference championships with a 12-3 run-rule loss in five innings to top-seeded and No. 16 Wingate (43-12) Saturday afternoon at the WU Softball Complex.
The Eagles had kept the Bulldogs - the highest-scoring team in the South Atlantic Conference – for nine straight innings before the Bulldogs broke through in the third inning and never looked back.
"I'm proud of the girls and the direction we are going right now," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "We discussed yesterday before we played Wingate that that was an important game because the loser of that game would have to win three straight games on Saturday to win the tournament. I said it can be done, but it is an extremely uphill battle, and very difficult to win three in a row against good competition. That definitely proved to be a challenge today."
Syerra Rogers fired 12.1 innings of seven-hit, two-run ball among the three games on the day. She got the start in the finale against Wingate before being pulled after 2.1 innings. She kept Newberry and Wingate off the board for her first 12.1 innings before giving up a two-run single and exiting. She threw 179 pitches on the day and 362 pitches across the five games on the weekend.
"I think everybody in the ballpark knows how good we are, and what we can do," Graves said. "We had a lot of highlights on the weekend. We continued to hit the ball extremely well, and we made some great plays defensively. Syerra Rogers gave us some big innings and was unhittable for most of the tournament. Nicko gave us some good innings. Wingate had a huge home crowd advantage, and a big student section here that definitely made a difference. So hats off to that university and their softball team. Everyone here got to witness two very good teams lay it all on the field today."
Mary Vandergriff had a 2-for-2 day for Carson-Newman offensively.
Heaven Maness paced Wingate going 2-for-3 with a home run and seven RBI – the most RBI C-N has allowed to an opponent since Sara Stroud from Wingate in 2016.
Carson-Newman struck first in the bottom of the second inning. Hayden Dye (Knoxville, Tenn.) walked to lead off the inning. Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange, Conn.) was tasked with dropping down a sacrifice bunt to move Dye. Matyasovsky got the bunt down, but Wingate tried to get the lead runner. The throw went wide of second and moved Dye to third and allowed Matyasovsky to reach.
In the next at-bat, Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) hit a bouncing ball to third. Ragan Liles bobbled initially, then took too long checking on Dye and just like that there was an Eagle on every bag with no one out.
Carmen Holt (Lawrenceburg, Ky.) hit a ground ball to short. Heaven Maness came home, throwing wide of the plate; however, catcher Hannah Stevens sprawled out and snagged the errant throw while keeping her left big toe glued to the plate to retire Dye and keep the game scoreless.
That scoreless contest would be short-lived. A batter later, Mary Vandergriff (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) rolled a ball through the left side to put the Eagles on the board. Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) followed with an RBI fielder's choice to third to hand C-N a 2-0 lead after two.
Wingate answered the bell in the top of the third. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out off a Jill Thomas infield single to the pitcher, a Kaylee Hobgood walk and a HBP to Savanna Brooks. Heaven Maness came through off a 1-2 pitch up the middle to drive in a pair of runs and tie the game 2-2. C-N got out of the inning with no further damage done thanks to a strikeout and a line out.
However, the Bulldogs reloaded the bases in the top of the fourth. After a pop up. Hali Scott and Danielle Kirchhofer sent singles to right and left center respectively. Then, Jill Thomas reached on an error at short to juice the bases. Hobgood came through with an infield single to third to give Wingate a 3-2 edge. Brooks then got plunked to bring in a second run. Maness made the Eagles pay with a grand slam to left to stretch the lead to 8-2.
The Bulldogs kept adding on in the fifth. Wingate loaded the bases with no one out off a Kirchofer single, an error and a walk. Brooks and Maness both walked with the bases loaded to stretch the lead into run-rule territory 10-2. Two more runs came in on a Ragan Liles single to extend the bulge to 12-2.
Carson-Newman got one back in the bottom of the fifth the a Bailey RBI single, but left the bases loaded unable to extend the game.
NicKolette Ferguson lost in relief to fall to 5-3. She pitched 1.2 innings giving up six hits, eight runs, six earned.
Kirchhofer got the win in her second start of the season to improve to 1-0. She pitched 4.1 innings, giving up seven hits and three runs, one earned. She walked one and fanned two.
Hali Scott finished the final two outs while working around a hit.
Carson-Newman will await its NCAA tournament fate. The selection show for NCAA Regionals is next Monday, May 8.
