Carson-Newman begins home stretch with penultimate doubleheader against Emory & Henry
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – As the regular season comes into the last stretch, Carson-Newman (35-8, 14-4 SAC) starts its final four games with a midweek clash against Emory & Henry (24-18, 8-8 SAC) on Wednesday afternoon.
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
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4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 6 | 13 | 0 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | X | 6 | 10 | 1 |
VIDEO: In The Booth vs Emory & Henry (Game 1)
VIDEO: In The Booth vs Emory & Henry (Game 2)
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – As the regular season comes into the last stretch, Carson-Newman (35-8, 14-4 SAC) starts its final four games with a midweek clash against Emory & Henry (24-18, 8-8 SAC) on Wednesday afternoon.
The Eagles went 4-0 last week and are coming in off the heels of a gritty sweep against Coker on Saturday to close out the road slate. A complete game from Lorelei Spradlin (Blacksburg, Va.) propelled C-N in game one, 5-3, and then a two-run double from Malyiah Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) in the fifth helped eke out a 3-2 win in the second contest.
Head coach Michael Graves was happy to extend the winning streak, but felt his team struggled compared to their offensive dominance on Thursday at Catawba.
"I just think we didn't come out ready to play, we were sluggish, we had nothing on our swings, that's just not what I'm used to seeing with our offense," Graves said. "I told them, 'I don't like to win ugly,' I'll take the wins, it's great, and hopefully it will help us out in the long run, but I want to look good every time we play, and I just don't think we looked good today."
Carson-Newman finished with a 13-5 record on the road, including a 9-1 mark in conference play.
The Eagles possess one of the top offenses not only in the Southeast Region, but also in Division II. The team's .373 batting average is currently the highest single-season mark in program history, it's the best in the conference, region and fifth-best nationally. Individually, C-N has three of the top four hitters and four of the top six in the SAC, in terms of batting average.
Over the past 12 games, Grace Gregory (White House, Tenn.) has energized the Eagles' offense, going 21-for-40 at the plate, .525, totaling five home runs and 20 RBIs. Her 9 home runs to lead C-N and is fifth in the SAC. Additionally, her 43 RBI are the second-most on the team and the third-best in the SAC. This week, she was named both SAC Player of the Week and TSWA Player of the Week.
Senior Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) is one of the top hitters in the region. She leads the SAC with a .458 average and 54 RBIs this season and has added seven home runs this season. She snapped a skid where she had been held without an RBI in four straight games and her last six in SAC play with a 4-for-8, with a home run and 3 RBIs at Catawba. She went deep for the second straight game with a solo home run in game one against Coker.
Addie Saunders (Radford, Va.) has been sizzling as of late. The sophomore had her 10-game hitting streak and 16-game on-base streak, both career longs, snapped in game two against Coker. In her last 17 games, she is 28-for-55 (.509) with seven extra-base hits and 10 RBI, tallying four RBIs against Catawba.
Also in the mix for the Eagles are freshman Malyiah Smith and senior Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.). Smith is fourth in the SAC with a .427 average and is second on the team with 23 multi-hit games, including a pair of three-hit games against Coker.
Martin, in her final year in Mossy Creek, is enjoying a career-best season. She is sixth in the SAC with a .408 average, and has set career-highs in average, hits, runs, RBI, slugging, on-base percentage and stolen bases.
Atiana Stamper (Knoxville, Tenn.) has been the feature in the circle this season. The freshman is 12-3 with a 1.88 ERA in 108 innings with 98 strikeouts, she is holding opponents to a .187 batting average. In the SAC, Stamper is third in ERA and sixth in wins and strikeouts. She picked up a three-inning save last time out against Coker.
Strong pitching this weekend from Lorelei Spradlin and Lacey Keck (Knoxville, Tenn.) lightened the workload for Stamper.
Emory & Henry comes into the midweek matchup at 24-18 with an 8-8 record in SAC, in a four-way tie for fifth, along with Mars Hill, Wingate and Catawba. Last time out, the Wasps took both against Newberry, outscoring the Wolves 17-2 across the two contests. They are winners of four straight and five of their last six.
As a team, E&H is batting .300 and has clubbed 62 home runs, the most among any team in the SAC, the region and the second-most in Division II, led by its trio of sophomores, Liberty Johnson, Sawyer Tolley and Hannah Booth.
Johnson is batting .309 and leads the SAC with 13 long balls, which is tied for the ninth-most in the nation. While Tolley holds a .300 batting average and 12 home runs, tied for 14th in the country. Finally, Booth leads the team batting at a .403 clip and is fourth in the conference with 10 round trippers.
In the circle, Malorie Reeves has appeared in 32 of the Wasps 42 games this season, tossing 19 complete games in 165.1 innings of work. The senior 18-8 with a 2.71 ERA and 101 strikeouts, she holds the most wins, the fifth most strikeouts and the seventh-lowest ERA in the South Atlantic Conference.
Carson-Newman and Emory & Henry will square off for the 7th and 8th time, with the Wasps leading the all-time series 4-2. E&H took both of last year's meetings, 11-10 in 10 innings in game one and 5-4 in the second game, both in walk-off fashion.
The Eagles took both games the last time these two squared off on the banks of Mossy Creek, 10-2 in game one and 10-6 in the second contest.
Wednesday's twin bill is set for a 1:00 p.m. start in Jefferson City, Tennessee, at the Vickee-Kazee Hollifield Softball Complex. Fans can watch the game on FloSports with a subscription, listen on cneagles.com/live or watch the In The Booth feed on the Carson-Newman Eagle Sports Network YouTube channel.
