Five Eagles net NFCA All-Region honors
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Carson-Newman’s softball team placed five student-athletes on the National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association (NFCA) all-region teams, the organization announced Wednesday afternoon.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Carson-Newman's softball team placed five student-athletes on the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association (NFCA) all-region teams, the organization announced Wednesday afternoon.
Three Eagles, second baseman Emily Harris (Cumming, Ga.), shortstop Leah Sohm (Knoxville, Tenn.) and outfielder SieAnna Cameron (Alcoa, Tenn.), represented Carson-Newman on the first team. While two players, outfielder Natalie Corbin (Tybee Island, Ga.) and first baseman Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) picked up second-team honors.
For Harris, Hughes and Sohm, it marks their third postseason honors to add on to All-SAC and All-SAC Tournament, while Corbin and Cameron were both All-SAC honorees.
Harris, NCAA Division II's active hits leader, sits on 332 knocks coming into the tournament. She's is 11th in NCAA Division II history for career hits. Six more hits will move her into the top 10 all time in Division II history. E
Harris leads the SAC and is fourth nationally with 83 knocks. Harris has the second highest batting average in the country. Every Carson-Newman softball player who has tallied 69 or more hits in a season has been named an All-American. Harris is one of five players in program history to have produced 80 or more hits in a year (Carol Zachary Mitchell, Kelli Hensley, Jessie Howard and Sammi Hatcher Chafin).
She is four hits away from equaling Jessie Howard and Sammi Hatcher for third-most all-time. Carol Zachary (1990) and Kelli Hensley (2014) both share the SAC and school record with 92. Additionally, Harris as smoked 18 doubles, two away from the single-season school record shared by Whitney Hickam (2008) and Mandy Stevens (2007).
In cool, but less spectacular news, Harris needs a SAC fly to tie Libby Seal (2002) and KaraLynne Levi (2017) for the most sacrifice flies in a single season in school history (five). Harris needs four more stolen bases to become the fourth (or possible fifth) player in school history with 40 swipes in a season. (Leah Sohm has two more SB than Harris and is two away from 40).
Harris has produced a trio of double-digit hitting streaks, topping out at 11 consecutive games. She has not gone back-to-back games without a hit this season.
Cameron makes her first appearance on an all-region team after a season that has been hampered by a wrist injury which caused her to miss two and a half weeks of action.
Even with that, Cameron has the fifth-highest batting average in the league, hitting .412 with 54 hits. She has also stroked eight doubles and legged out five triples. Carson-Newman is 21-1 this year when Cameron scores a run.
She hit safely in 16 consecutive games this season to match the fifth-longest hitting streak in program history.
All told she has 14 multi-hit efforts and seven multi-RBI games. Cameron enters the region tournament having hit safely in eight of her last nine games.
With 38 stolen bases, Leah Sohm needs two more to match Libby Conley for the fourth most in a single season in school history. She also stands poised to become the fourth (or fifth, see above about Harris) to steal 40 bases in a year.
She needs 12 more stolen bases to become the third member of C-N's triple-digit stolen base club for a career. Sohm sits on 59 runs scored this season, five away from Jessie Howard for the third-most in a single season. Sammi Hatcher holds the single-season record with 68 (1992). She needs seven more runs to catch Sammi Hatcher for third on the career chart (175).
Sohm needs four more hits to join Emily Harris as the second member of the 80-hit club this season and the sixth in program history. C-N has averaged a little under eight years per entry into the 80-hit club. The Eagles are in position to have two this season.
Sohm is hitting .418 this season with 76 hits, seven doubles, seven triples and two inside-the-park home runs. Unbelievably, she put a home run over the fence in the SAC tournament quarterfinals against Wingate.
Sohm produced a career-long 13-game hitting streak earlier this season. She has 23 multi-hit games, including a school-record five-hit day against Shorter (Feb. 12). She drove in a career-high four RBI against both the Hawks and the Catawba Indians.
Natalie Corbin scuffled in early February and was hitting .278 after Feb. 25. However, the Young Harris transfer quickly found her stroke with a streak of 15 games where she hit successfully in 14 to bring her average north of .370. In that stretch, Corbin has eight, three-hit games.
Corbin has 17 multi-hit efforts this season, including her first career four-hit day against No. 13 Anderson (April 21).
The junior has stolen 26 bags in 27 attempts. Corbin ranks second on the team with four outfield assists.
She hit an inside-the-park grand slam against West Virginia State and had another inside-the-park home run against Queens.
Finally, Hughes is eighth in the country with 64 RBI this season. Hughes has five games this year with at least four RBI and three with five or more. Hughes is 11 RBI away from Brittany Hefner's (2013) school and SAC record 75 RBI for a single season.
Hughes has the fourth most RBI in a single season in school history, five more and she'll draw level with Hall of Famer Whitney Hickam Cruze. Hughes has hit 14 home runs this season, she has the 17th double-digit home run season in school history and is tied for third in school history for a single season with with Elayna Siebert (2015). Her 15th would put her even with Staci Fish (2001) for second. Brittany Hefner (2013) holds the single-season record with 19. With 16 doubles, Hughes next two-base knock will move her into the top 10 in program history for a single season.
The sophomore has hit .399 with 16 doubles, two triples and 14 blasts. She has also stolen ffive bases.
