VIDEO: Michael Graves Interview
VIDEO: Game One Highlights
VIDEO: Game Two Highlights
VIDEO: Macauley Bailey Interview
VIDEO: Abbi Martin Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman (23-15) plated a combined 19 runs and tallied 23 hits in a sweep of Converse (15-31) Monday afternoon at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex.
Carson-Newman tallied its first walk-off win of the season in game one 7-6 on an Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) double before rolling to a 12-8 win in the nightcap.
C-N was especially effective with runners. The Eagles were 11-for-22 for the twinbill with runners in scoring position. C-N had a runner on third with less than two out four times in the twinbill and scored that runner every time.
"I'm happy to get two wins especially with as banged up as we are," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "We have some people who are playing who are really hurt, then we have some folks who would be playing who aren't because they are hurt. They were gritty today. Even with that, we had some really rough miscues in the field today. Pitching, we gave up way to many hits. They got too much bat on the ball today. But I will still take two wins ugly over a split or losing two any day of the week."
Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) was dynamic at the plate, going 4-for-8 for the doubleheader with six runs driven in. She and Hayden Dye (Powell, Tenn.) hit their 27th and 21st career home runs, respectively. Dye took over the league leaderboard for most RBI in the SAC with 46 on the year. She drove in four on the day with a 4-for-8 effort at the plate.
Carson-Newman hit seven doubles in game on of the doubleheader, the third most for a game in school history (the single-game record is 11, set against Belmont Abbey in 1996).
GAME ONE: Carson-Newman 7, Converse 6
Converse scored first in the first with an unearned run. Ayellad Howard led off the game reaching on a muffed throw at first. She took second on a sacrifice bunt and moved to third on a fly out to right. Karleigh Crabill drove her in with a two-out infield single to short for an unearned run and a 1-0 lead.
Carson-Newman responded immediately. Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) led off the game with a double down the left field line. Two batters later, Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) drover her in with an identical hit, a bouncer down the left field line for a double. Two more batters later and Bailey scored on a two-strike, two-out pitch to Brooklyn Lucero (Loma, Colo.) that she drove into the alley in right center to give C-N a 2-1 lead.
The Eagles padded their lead in the bottom of the second. Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) led off the inning with a walk before stealing second. Hayden Dye (Powell, Tenn.) drove her in with a two-out single down the left field line to give C-N a 3-1 cushion.
More two-out hitting extended C-N's lead in the fourth. Hughes worked a one-out walk and stole second to give C-N a two-out base runner in scoring position. Bailey took advantage with a quality piece of hitting. She flared a two-out bloop single to right field with the outfield playing back to score Hughes from two bases away to give C-N a 4-1 lead.
Converse made in roads into the deficit in the fifth inning. A bloop single to center and an infield single to short set the table for Howard, who tripled over the head of Trinity Brooks (Jackson, Tenn.) in left to plate both runners and pull the Valkyries within a run, 4-3.
C-N answered immediately in the bottom of the fifth. Lucero doubled to lead off the inning before Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) followed with a double to center. With two in scoring position, Mary Vandergriff (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to left center. Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) extended the rally with a single to left to plate Warder and extend the lead to 6-3.
Converse answered the bell in the top of the sixth with back-to-back two out home runs. Madison Sheadel hit her first of the year to left center for a two-run shot to pull the Valkyries within one, a pitch later, Kiarra Thomas clobbered her second homer of the year to center to pull Converse even with C-N, 6-6.
The Eagles walked it off for the first time all year in the bottom of the seventh. Warder got on with one out with an infield single to third. After a fly out to left, Warder stole second. Off a 2-1 pitch, Martin bounced a ball to the wall in right center just outside the reach of the diving centerfielder Howard. Warder was running on the pitch and scored easily to give the Eagles the walk-off win.
NicKolette Ferguson (Erwin, Tenn.) got the win in relief to improve to 4-2. She didn't allow a base runner in 1.1 innings of work.
Riley Lingerfelt took the loss for Converse to drop to 10-15. She struck out seven and walked three in her complete game. She gave up 11 hits and seven runs, all earned.
GAME TWO: Carson-Newman 12, Converse 8
The Valkyries struck for two unearned runs in the top of the first with a two out rally. C-N retired the first two batters before Sydney Watson and Karleigh Crabill singled to right and to first, respectively. The pair moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, then scored on a mishandled ball at short to make it 2-0.
Carson-Newman retaliated in the bottom of the first. Hughes scorched a single through the right side to lead off the inning. Three pitches later, Hayden Dye (Powell, Tenn.) slammed a 2-1 pitch to straight away center to tie the game 2-2.
Converse see-sawed back in front 3-2 in the top of the second. Thomas belted her third home run of the season and her second of the twin bill with one out. The solo shot put the Valkyries in front 3-2.
The Eagles responded with a five spot in the bottom of the second. With one out, Vandergriff reached on an error. Martin laced a bouncing ball past the right fielder in the corner for an inside-the-park home run – the second of her career – to put C-N in front 4-3. The Eagles weren't done though. With two out, Hughes and Dye tallied to singles to short and through the right side, respectively, to set the table for Bailey. She tanked an 0-1 pitch off the stairs of the soccer press box beyond the centerfield wall for three unearned runs and a 7-4 lead. The blast was her 12th of the year and 27th of her career.
The Valkyries scratched across a run in the top of the third off a sacrifice fly from Crabill to make it a 7-4 contest.
The Eagles played add on in the fourth with another big crooked number. Carson-Newman plated four runs off two hits to grab an 11-4 lead. C-N got two on with one out with a walk and a fielder's choice. Bailey took advantage with a screaming single to center for her fourth RBI of the day. A walk to Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange, Conn.) loaded the bases for Lucero who got plunked to drive in the second run of the inning. C-N rounded out the scoring with a Warder single to left and a Vandergriff sacrifice fly.
Converse chipped away at the lead with a three-run fifth. Watson plated the first run with an RBI double before the Valkyries loaded the bases with one out. Thomas bounced a single up the middle to plate two runs off a two-out knock to get Converse within four runs, 11-7.
C-N extended the lead by a run in the fifth. Hughes laced a one out double to left center before Dye clobbered a long single off the wall in right center to bring her in to extend the lead to 12-7.
The Valkyries set the final margin in the top of the seventh, 12-8, with Thomas' fourth RBI of the night cap off a single up the middle with runners on first and second.
Ferguson got the win to improve to 5-2. She pitched the first 4.0 innings, giving up seven hits and four runs, two earned. She walked one and fanned three.
Dichio took the loss for Converse to fall to 5-12. She started and pitched 1.2 innings, giving up seven hits and seven runs, three of which were earned.
Carson-Newman returns to action Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Red Edmunds Field. A video stream of the doubleheader can be found with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/FloSB.
