C-N softball drills five homers in doubleheader sweep of Limestone

Carson-Newman (14-2) blasted five homeruns from four different players as it pulled out a sweep of Limestone (2-8) Tuesday afternoon at Saints Field. The Eagles took game one 11-2 in six innings before winning the nightcap 8-0 in six.

Brittany Hefner (Talbott, Tenn.), Bri Shoemake (Ooltewah, Tenn.), Sara Kelley (Ooltewah, Tenn.) and Bethany Davis (Nicholasville, Ky.) all went yard for the Eagles in the doubleheader.

“I always go back to our pitch selection, we were aggressive early in the game and in the count,” Carson-Newman head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. “They were just going up and attacking the ball.

“We don’t just have one player that can do that, but we’ve got five kids that if they get a good look at the ball, they can just put it over the fence. And when you’ve got that many players who have the capability of doing that and do it on the same day, that’s something special.”

But it wasn’t just home runs for C-N. Of the Eagles 22 hits, 13 were for extra bases – five homeruns, five doubles and three triples.

Game one: C-N 11, Limestone 2 (six innings)

Carson-Newman used a seven-run sixth inning and three home runs to trump the Saints in game one of the doubleheader. Seven of the Eagles 11 runs were produced by the long ball.

The Eagles built a 4-0 lead through three innings before Limestone struck back for two in the home half of the fifth. However, Carson-Newman’s seven-run sixth would be enough to send the Eagles to their eighth run rule win of the year.

“Our slappers did a good job of getting on base,” Kazee-Hollifield said. “It meant more runs when we did knock it out of the park.”

In the seventh, the Eagles raked seven of their 13 hits – six of the hits in the seventh were for extra bases. Elayna Siebert (Knoxville, Tenn.) started the inning by tripling to right center. Sara Kelley (Ooltewah, Tenn.) would then yank the first pitch she saw over the wall in left. Leading 6-2, Kelli Hensley (Knoxville, Tenn.) would reach on a fielding error by Paige Bolding at third.

That set up Bethany Davis (Nicholasville, Ky.) to crank her fifth double of the year down the left field line to plate Hensley. The merry-go-round continued with an RBI double from Cassie Elliot (Johnson City, Tenn.) and then a two-RBI dinger to left from Brittany Hefner (Talbot, Tenn.) – her league leading seventh home run of the season – to put the run rule into effect pending Limestone’s home half of the inning. However, the Eagles would add insurance to ending the game early.

Following a Caitlyn Lance (Birchwood, Tenn.) two-out single to center, Siebert would drill her second triple of the inning to right to plate Lance to end the scoring for the inning.

Limestone would load the bases in the home half of the frame, threatening to extend the game to regulation, but Kaitie Sims (Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.) induced Ashley Cox to fly out to Hensley in left to end the game early.

Sims picked up her eighth win of her freshman campaign. She’s started her Carson-Newman career 8-0. Sims went the complete six innings, scattering seven hits.

Kazee-Hollifield was especially pleased with C-N’s performance against Limestone’s 6-0 senior pitcher Leah Quant.

“She threw harder and her speed was a bit different from what we’ve seen,” Kazee-Hollifield said. “I was happy to see how we responded with a faster pitcher especially with a big weekend coming up.”

Game two: C-N 8, Limestone 0 (6)

The Eagles picked up where they left off in game one with a mix of small and longball to start game two. With the bases juiced in the second, Davis picked up the first of her four RBI in game two by poking a dribbler to short to score Siebert from third.

A two-RBI double from a pinch hitting Elliot later and the Eagles were ahead 4-0 – a lead they would not relinquish.

Cassie Lyons (Knoxville, Tenn.) was masterful in the circle, scattering four hits while wrapping up her fourth shutout of the season to improve to 6-2. Lyons fired 83 pitches today, 51 of which were strikes.

“That’s key for both of (our pitchers), keep the walks down,” Kazee-Hollifield said. “That tells it. When Lyons is on, she’s on and that’s what we need from her.”

The Eagles are off for a few days before hitting the road against Friday and Saturday for games at the Mid-South Classic against Flagler, Erskine, Armstrong and Columbus State.