Carson-Newman run rules rival Tusculum in doubleheader split

Carson-Newman (22-12, 6-4 South Atlantic Conference) picked up a split with league-leader Tusculum (20-13, 8-2 SAC). The Eagles run ruled the Pioneers to start the day 13-4 in six innings before a Carson-Newman rally fell short in the seventh in the nightcap to lose 3-1.

“Game one we put a bat on the ball and got key base hits with runners in scoring position, but game two was not like that,” Carson-Newman head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said.

Bri Shoemake (Ooltewah, Tenn.) pounded out five hits for the day while Brittany Hefner (Talbot, Tenn.) came within six RBI of matching the C-N and SAC record (72) for most RBI in a single season.

Game one: Carson-Newman 13, Tusculum 4 (6 innings)

Cassie Elliot (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Bethany Davis (Nicholasville, Ky.) both cranked their fifth home runs of the season as Carson-Newman withstood a Tusculum comeback before plating nine unanswered runs to win in the mercy rule shortened game.

Davis’ three-run blast proved to be one of the walkoff variety. She went yard over the fence in left to give C-N the nine-run lead in the bottom of the sixth with one out.

Carson-Newman had its first four players in the order score multiple runs and batters two through seven pound out multiple hits. Five different Eagles had multiple RBI.

After Tusculum knotted the game at four with a three-run fourth inning. The Eagles counterpunched.

Elliot led off the inning with her moon shot to center. With Hefner and Shoemake aboard, Sara Kelley (Ooltewah, Tenn.) doubled to left center to clear the bases and give C-N a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Elliot would drive in another in the fifth on a sacrifice fly to right that brought a pinch running Braleigh Angel (Hixson, Tenn.) around to score.

Kaitie Sims (13-2) picked up the win in the circle, while Cassie Lyons (Knoxville, Tenn.) fired two innings of one-hit shutout softball in relief.

Lindsey Umberger provided the pop at the plate for the Pioneers for game one, going three-for-three with a solo home run.

Game two: Tusculum 3, Carson-Newman 1

Tusculum used a three-run third inning that Carson-Newman would not recover from to earn the doubleheader split with the Eagles.

Umberger singled up the middle to score two runs and Nicole Ball doubled to center field to bring Umberger around for another run.

Carson-Newman had the tying run at the plate numerous in seventh, but couldn’t string together the necessary hits to bring the runner across. Sims pinch hit to lead off the inning and stung a ball to left center for a base hit. Then Elliot doubled down the left field line to put two runners in scoring position with no one out.

The Pioneers’ leftfielder then dropped a Kelli Hensley (Knoxville, Tenn.) fly ball to allow Angel – who was pinch running for Sims – to come in.

However, Pioneer pitcher Elizabeth Johnson induced a line out to short, a fly out to left and a grounder to third to end the game before the Eagles could do any further damage.

Lyons took the hard luck loss to drop to 9-10 for the season.

Carson-Newman is back at the Lady Eagle Softball Complex Friday at 1 p.m. for a doubleheader with Newberry. Coverage is available on the Coca-Cola Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com.