Martin and Walker power softball to perfect start at Big Region Preseason Preview
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – It has been a change of pace for head coach Michael Graves and his squad in its 4-0 start to the season. Strong pitching and lockdown defense carried the Eagles to a pair of wins on Monday to close out the Big Region Preseason Preview.
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VIDEO: Michael Graves Interview
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – It has been a change of pace for head coach Michael Graves and his squad in its 4-0 start to the season. Strong pitching and lockdown defense carried the Eagles to a pair of wins on Monday to close out the Big Region Preseason Preview.
In the morning, C-N took down Davis & Elkins, 5-1, to sweep all the Mountain East opponents it faced, and finished off its trip to Johnson City with a shutout of Converse, 6-0.
"I don't think we played our best this weekend, especially offensively. Defensively, we played pretty good, except for a couple of miscues," Graves said. "Offensively, we just weren't clicking on all cylinders, but I don't worry about our offense, we'll go back and hit some live stuff and get that going."
The Eagles were the only team to win all their games at the event, after their victories over Glenville State and Concord yesterday.
"Last year we didn't win the close game," Graves said. "We found a way to win these four games, and that's something we didn't do last year, and I'm excited about it, because we are so young."
All eight of the new freshmen made their debuts this weekend, all showing that the future is bright in Mossy Creek.
Carson-Newman 5, Davis & Elkins 1
For the second straight game, it was Atiana Stamper (Knoxville, Tenn.) who started in the circle for C-N. Following her nine-strikeout game last night, the freshman gave three shutout innings, giving up two hits with a pair of strikeouts and walks.
In the bottom of the second, Carson-Newman struck first for the third straight game. With the bases loaded, senior Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) drove in Katey Mathena (Blacksburg, Va.) on a groundout.
An inning later, the Eagles stretched the lead as Grace Gregory (White House, Tenn.) grounded into a double play that pushed Reese Winchester (San Diego, Calif.) home, 2-0.
In the fourth, Graves made a change in the circle, replacing Stamper with fellow freshman Lacey Keck (Knoxville, Tenn.). The left-hander ran into some trouble as Cortney Dobbs worked a walk and eventually scored on an RBI single from Meg Henkle, 2-1.
However, after allowing the run, Keck settled into a groove and came up with a huge defensive play in the sixth. After a leadoff double and a flyout, the tying run for the Senators sat 60 feet away. On a slow roller off the bat of Trinity Fleming, Keck scooped it and shoveled it to Anne Marie Richards (Spring Hill, Tenn.) to tag out Isabelle Thomas at the plate, preserving the lead.
In the home half of the sixth, the Eagles rattled off three straight base hits from Richards, Mathena and then an RBI single from Addie Saunders (Radford, Va.) drove in pinch-runner Emma Romeka (San Diego, Calif.) to push the lead back up to two. Martin then picked up her second RBI on a sacrifice fly, driving in Mathena. Saunders came in on a single from Malyiah Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.).
Keck shut the door in the seventh to secure the 5-1 win. She finished with two strikeouts, allowing the lone run on four hits in four innings of work to pick up her first career win.
Carson-Newman 6, Converse 0
In a quick turnaround to the second game, freshman Sarah Walker (Mills River, N.C.) made her first career start. The right-hander got off to a flying start, letting her defense make plays behind her, throwing just 11 pitches in a pair of 1-2-3 innings.
Then, in the bottom of the second, Walker let her bat do the talking, launching a towering shot to left for her first career home run, 1-0. It was also the first home run of the season for C-N.
After three more scoreless innings of work from Walker, the Eagles added another run in the bottom of the fifth. It began with a single by Martin; she proceeded to steal second and was driven in on a ground-rule double by Wynter Morris (Crozet, Va.), 2-0.
In the away half of the sixth, Walker was relieved by Lorelei Spradlin (Blacksburg, Va.), who got the final two outs of the frame. Walker finished the day going five and a third innings, allowing zero runs, and getting one strikeout.
The Eagles added insurance to their lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, plating four runs. It began with a leadoff double from Richards, Shelby Armstrong (Knoxville, Tenn.) came in as a pinch runner, and later scored on an RBI single from Walker, 3-0. Saunders reached next on an infield single before Martin sliced a spinning ball down the right field line and legged out a triple to plate two more. A sacrifice fly from Smith allowed Martin to score, 6-0.
Closing things out in the seventh was Kaliah Merritt (Wayne, W.V.), working a spotless 1-2-3 frame, including her first career strikeout. It was C-N's first shutout win of the season, and first since April 5th, 2025, against Coker, 14-0.
Carson-Newman doesn't have any midweek games before it heads to Hardeeville, South Carolina, for the Low Country Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Eagles will tussle with Erskine and hosts, USC-Beaufort, on both days.
Walker went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs, while Martin notched her third straight game with 2 RBIs, pushing her team-leading total to six and leads the team with four stolen bases. Saunders put together a strong string of games, hitting .556 overall, tied for the team-best with Martin.
The Eagles' pitching was stellar, holding opponents to a .238 average, and the team has a 1.75 ERA.
"Our pitching was phenomenal all weekend, and we're trying to find ways to score runs, and that's totally the opposite of what we've been used to," Graves said. "We'll go back and get the offense jump-started, and I think once it clicks and they get going, it will be so much easier for us.
First pitch on Friday is slated for 11 a.m. against Erskine. The games can be heard on cneagles.com/live. Fans can also watch the radio crew at work via a press row feed on YouTube.
