C-N opens first NCAA Tournament bid in three years against two-seed, No. 8 Francis Marion
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After missing the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons, Carson-Newman (40-12) returns to the big dance and will face No. 8 Francis Marion (44-11) on Thursday in Florence, South Carolina.
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VIDEO: In The Booth vs No. 8 Francis Marion
VIDEO: #2 Francis Marion vs #7 Carson-Newman
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After missing the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons, Carson-Newman (40-12) returns to the big dance and will face No. 8 Francis Marion (44-11) on Thursday in Florence, South Carolina.
"We're excited to play. I felt we should've been in all along," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "Just glad to get in, and now once we're in, just got to show up and play the game."
The Eagles earned the seven-seed in the Southeast Region, with the hosting Patriots achieving the two-seed. Fellow South Atlantic Conference foes, Lenoir-Rhyne and Anderson, will also head to the Palmetto State as the three-seed and six-seed, respectively, to round out the Florence Regional.
No. 3 North Georgia is the other host and top overall seed in the Southeast Region. The Nighthawks face the SAC Champions, Lincoln Memorial, with Columbus State and Lander squaring off in the other half of the Dahlonega Region. The highest remaining seed will host Super Regionals next week on May 21st and 22nd.
Carson-Newman makes its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2023 and 18th overall this week. The Eagles are searching for their first win in the national tournament since 2019, when they defeated Anderson 13-0. Across their 18 NCAA Tournaments, they are 15-36 all-time.
In its last two NCAA Tournament outings, C-N has been bounced after two games, in 2022 and most recently in 2023, when it fell to Wingate and Francis Marion.
The Eagles are looking for their second-ever Super Regional appearance, their first since 2009. Carson-Newman opened that 2009 tournament with a 6-5 win over USC Aiken, then defeated the host Lenoir-Rhyne Bears twice, 6-4 and 2-1, before heading to top-ranked North Georgia, where the Eagles fell 6-3 and 1-0 to the Nighthawks.
Last weekend, the Eagles fell in the SAC Championship Series, dropping both of their contests on Friday to Lincoln Memorial, 10-5, before an Anderson walk-off eliminated C-N, 9-8.
Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) and Grace Gregory (White House, Tenn.) were named to the All-Tournament team and have been two of the top producers all season long.
Bailey began her Carson-Newman career with a trip to the NCAA Tournament and will finish it out the same way. The senior has put together another stellar season in her final chapter, batting .451, totaling seven home runs with 58 RBIs. Her 79 hits are the fifth-most in a single season and put her at 270 in her career, she needs four more to pass Libby Conley for the second-most in program history.
While Gregory transferred after a long journey that included three prior stops. Over the last month, the senior has been one of the most fearsome bats in the South Atlantic Conference. She is fourth on the team with a .411 batting average, second with 54 RBIs and has blasted a team-best 10 home runs. Her 22 doubles is a single-season record in Carson-Newman history.
Francis Marion, the Conference Carolinas champions, serves as a host for the second straight year, after being the top seed in the Southeast last season, making it for the fifth straight year. The Patriots won their fourth straight Conference Carolinas Tournament championships in their fifth season as a member, earning their seventh bid to the big dance overall.
When game one rolls around, it will have been 18 days since Francis Marion last took the field, when it defeated Mount Olive 14-6 on April 26th, in the "if necessary" championship game of the Conference Carolinas Tournament.
Pitcher Jenna Walling was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, with Anderson Thrower and Alyssa Poston making their way to the All-Tournament team.
Under the tutelage of Stacey Vallee, the Patriots have been one of the premier programs in the Southeast Region. 2026 marked the thirteenth time she eclipsed 30 wins in a single season. Now in her 22nd season at the helm, Vallee holds 697 career victories.
Francis Marion totaled five all-conference selections, including Player of the Year Madalyn White and Pitcher of the Year Jenna Walling. Anderson Thrower was named to the first team, with McKenzie Jewell earning second-team and Mikaela Goss receiving at-large honors.
Walling is a true two-way threat, she holds a .309 batting average and has team-high marks with nine home runs and 51 RBIs. The graduate student is 26-7 with a 1.67 ERA across 214 innings with 29 complete games, striking out 201 to 45 walks, and has held opponents to a .227 batting average.
Alyssa Poston completes a two-headed monster in the circle with a 1.61 ERA and a 14-2 record across 17 starts. In 113.1 innings, the senior has 91 strikeouts and opponents are hitting .205 against her. The Hartsville, South Carolina, native initially began her career in the SAC at Mars Hill in 2023.
White is batting .442 this season, with 19 RBIs and gets on base at a .523 clip, while going 32-for-34 on stolen bases. Thrower paces the team with a .443 batting average and 77 hits, driving in 22. Jewell represents the powerful part of the order with eight home runs and 45 RBIs, both second-best on the team.
The two sides have played each other 12 times, with the Patriots having a 7-5 edge in the all-time series. The schools last met in the 2023 Regionals, with FMU winning 5-3, ending Carson-Newman's season. Before that, the two schools had not played one another since 2011.
Carson-Newman and Francis Marion square off in the opening game of the Florence Region with the first pitch slated for 3:00 p.m. at the Francis Marion Softball Complex. Fans can watch the game on NCAA.com, listen on cneagles.com/live, or watch the In The Booth cam on Carson-Newman's Eagle Sports Network YouTube channel.
