Offense takes control in splattering sweep for No. 24 Carson-Newman at Catawba
Head coach Michael Graves assured that the offense would click as the season wore on, and after an eight-day break, it found its groove on Thursday in the Tar Heel State. No. 24 Carson-Newman (33-8, 12-4 SAC) outscored Catawba (22-17, 8-6 SAC) 27-7 across the two games today, tallying 31 total hits.
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3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 14 | 1 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
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1 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 17 | 0 |
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0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 3 |
VIDEO: Michael Graves Interview
VIDEO: Grace Gregory Interview
SALISBURY, N.C. – Head coach Michael Graves assured that the offense would click as the season wore on, and after an eight-day break, it found its groove on Thursday in the Tar Heel State. No. 24 Carson-Newman (33-8, 12-4 SAC) outscored Catawba (22-17, 8-6 SAC) 27-7 across the two games today, tallying 31 total hits.
The Eagles took an early lead in game one and sailed smoothly to the win, 12-2, before responding to Catawba's comeback bid with an emphatic eight-run third, carrying them to a 15-5 victory in the second half of the twin bill.
"Real good team that we just played, they've got some good wins, they've played a lot of good teams close. We were expecting to come in here and get a dogfight, but we jumped on them early in both games, and that took the wind out of them. I'm proud of the way they kept on it," Graves said. "After the first game, we took like the last two innings off, offensively, defensively and pitching. We had a little talk in between games, and I said, 'we got to put a complete game together,' so I think we did that in game two."
C-N has rattled off 11 consecutive wins, its longest winning streak since 2022, when it won 11 in a row. The 33 wins this season are the most in a year since 2018, when the team totaled 33.
"Approach at the plate was a big thing, there weren't too many times that I noticed that we were swinging and chasing bad pitches," Graves said. "So, we took some balls and waited on some that we could drive."
Game One: Carson-Newman 12, Catawba 2
Carson-Newman wasted no time drawing first blood on Thursday afternoon. Back-to-back base hits from Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) and Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) put two on, as Grace Gregory (White House, Tenn.) launched her ninth home run of 2026, 3-0.
Gregory made it three roundtrips in her last three games after a two-home run performance at Newberry. She now has five across her last 10 games.
Atiana Stamper (Knoxville, Tenn.) worked comfortably in the circle with back-to-back scoreless frames before her offense increased the cushion.
The Eagles erupted for nine runs in the third to stretch the lead to 12.
Bailey, Gregory and Addie Saunders (Raford, Va.) all reached to load the bases with no outs. After a 10-pitch at-bat with four two-strike foul balls, Anne Marie Richards (Spring Hill, Tenn.) worked a walk to plate the first run.
After a pitching change, two straight RBI singles from Sarah Walker (Mills River, N.C.) and Katey Mathena (Blacksburg, Va.) scored two more. A sacrifice fly from Shelby Armstrong (Knoxville, Tenn.) closed a sequence of three scoring plays in a row, 7-0. A single from Malyiah Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) loaded the bases again, setting the stage for the heart of the order.
The Eagles then tallied four consecutive hits that scored runs. A single from Martin scored Reese Winchester (San Diego, Calif.), followed by an RBI single from Bailey, driving in Mathena and a base hit from Gregory pushed Smith across the plate. Saunders capped off the nonet of runs with a double to right center, scoring Martin and Bailey, 12-0.
Catawba got on the board with a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly, but it was too big a mountain to climb, as C-N put it in cruise control in the last two frames to the run-rule in game one.
The first five hitters in the Eagles' order notched multiple hits. Gregory led the charge, going 3-for-4 with four RBIs, with Saunders going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs driven in.
Game Two: Carson-Newman 15, Catawba 5
The second contest started to a similar tune for Carson-Newman as Macauley Bailey used the long ball to break the ice with a solo home run, 1-0. It marked the sixth home run of the season for the senior.
An inning later, the Eagles tacked on three more runs as Shelby Armstrong kick-started the offense with a double down the left field line. She came into score via an error after a bunt single from Malyiah Smith. A single from Abbi Martin put two on, and a wild pitch moved them both into scoring position. This set the stage for a single to left center from Addie Saunders, scoring both Smith and Martin, 4-0.
With two outs in the bottom of the second, Catawba came surging back to level the game. Singles from Abbey Nixon and Alexis Monroe cut the deficit in half with two outs. After a pitching change that brought Lacey Keck (Knoxville, Tenn.) in, Grace Flynn tied the game on a two-run single to right field.
However, in the next half inning, C-N came out on fire to swing momentum back on their side, scoring eight runs in the third.
Sarah Walker was hit by a pitch, then a walk by Armstrong and Smith reached on an error, loading the bases. A two-run single from Martin put the Eagles back in front, and they didn't look back. Bailey came through with an RBI single, and then Gregory doubled to score Smith and Martin, 9-4.
A single from Saunders put runners on the corners as Anne Marie Richards got on, thanks to an error, and drove in Gregory. Two straight RBI singles from Walker and Katey Mathena put two more on the board, 12-4.
In the bottom of the fourth, Catawba took itself out of run-rule territory on a double from Monroe to score Dakotah Wilkins.
Before Michael Graves' team put the run-rule back on with a trio of runs in the fifth. Richards got it rolling with a base hit and moved to second on a passed ball before scoring on a single from Mathena. A 10-pitch walk to Armstrong put a pair on the base paths. Two straight RBI singles from Smith and Martin pushed the lead back to double figures, 15-5.
A 1-2-3 fifth put a bow on things and handed the Eagles their 11th straight victory and pushed their SAC winning streak to nine straight games.
Carson-Newman closes out the six-game road swing with a Saturday doubleheader against Coker. Game one from Hartsville, South Carolina, is slated for 11:00 a.m. from Saleeby-Stokes Softball Field. Fans can watch the game on FloSports with a subscription, listen to it cneagles.com/live or watch the In The Booth feed on the Carson-Newman Eagle Sports Network YouTube channel.
