Long balls help upset-minded Lincoln Memorial topple Carson-Newman Friday morning
HICKORY, N.C. – A hot start and four home runs helped four-seed Lincoln Memorial (24-22) continue its Cinderella run, defeating three-seed Carson-Newman (40-11), 10-5, to advance to Saturday's Championship.
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VIDEO: Michael Graves Postgame Press Conference
VIDEO: In The Booth Elimination Game
HICKORY, N.C. – A hot start and four home runs helped four-seed Lincoln Memorial (24-22) continue its Cinderella run, defeating three-seed Carson-Newman (40-11), 10-5, to advance to Saturday's Championship.
The Railsplitters jumped in front early, taking a commanding seven-run lead through three innings, tying the largest deficit the Eagles have faced this season. Five unanswered runs from C-N trimmed the lead to two, but a solo shot and a two-run home run by Hannah Bogoski and Gracie Palmer were the daggers in the seventh.
As emotions boiled over in the final inning, head coach Michael Graves delivered a short message in preparation for an elimination game this afternoon.
"We weren't very good early, had some bad at-bats, gave up some home runs, clawed back in and then fell apart again," Graves said. "This team has to find a way to keep it together. We got a lot of issues going on and we're going to have to straighten them out."
Lincoln Memorial got the ball rolling with a leadoff single by Reese Vivrette and opened the scoring with a two-run home run by Hannah McMeen in the first inning, 2-0.
It doubled the lead an inning later with its second two-run long ball off the bat of Alyssa Maples, chasing starter Lorelei Spradlin (Blacksburg, Va.) after an inning and a third, 4-0.
Then in the third, the cushion blossomed up to seven for the Railsplitters. McMeen led off with a double and then a sequence of six straight getting on base for LMU.
Nicole Couvertiere singled, then a double from Hannah Bogoski drove in McMeen, and an RBI single by Cassidy Hack pushed the advantage to six. Vivrette capped it off with a bases-loaded hit by pitch, 7-0, tying the largest deficit for C-N this season.
Behind back-to-back scoreless frames from Regan Rowan (Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.), the Eagles started to cut into the lead.
In the fourth, Anne Marie Richards (Spring Hill, Tenn.) left the yard with a solo shot, her fifth home run of the season, 7-1.
Then, in the fifth, they struck for four more, cutting the LMU lead down to a pair. The first three reached as Sarah Walker (Mills River, N.C.) singled, Shelby Armstrong (Knoxville, Tenn.) worked a walk and a single from Malyiah Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) loaded the bases.
C-N put together four straight run-scoring plays as Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) pushed Walker across on an RBI fielder's choice, followed by a Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) to plate Armstrong. Grace Gregory (White House, Tenn.) followed suit with a sacrifice fly, and Addie Saunders (Radford, Va.) drove in pinch-runner Reese Winchester (San Diego, Calif.) for the final run, 7-5.
In the sixth, the Eagles got the tying run on the bases with one away, but Lincoln Memorial's Brooke Strickland escaped trouble.
In the final frame, the Railsplitters utilized two more home runs to put the nail in the coffin against Atiana Stamper (Knoxville, Tenn.). Bogoski went deep on a one-out solo home run, and then the nine-hitter Gracie Palmer delivered a two-run wall scarper with two outs, 10-5.
Carson-Newman will take on the winner of Lenoir-Rhyne and Anderson later this afternoon in the second elimination game of the day.
First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. from Shena Hollar Field or approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Bears and Trojans contest. Fans can watch on FloSports with a subscription, listen on cneagles.com/live or tune in to the In The Booth cam on the Carson-Newman Eagle Sports Network YouTube channel.
