WISE, Va. – Facing off against 30-mile per hour wind gusts and a scrappy UVA Wise (6-13-1, 3-7 South Atlantic Conference), Carson-Newman (13-3, 8-2 SAC) broke out the big bats once the winds died down to split with its foe from Virginia Tuesday afternoon at Cavalier Field.
C-N matched a school record with five home runs in the night cap. Shannon Smith (Channahon, Ill.) clobbered a pair of dingers in back-to-back at-bats while Makayla McCarthy (El Cajon, Calif.), Keeley Quillen (Gate City, Va.) and KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) all homered for the second time this season.
The Eagles matched the all-time record also held by the 2006 team (against Mars Hill), 2015 team (Bluefield State) and 2019 team (Newberry).
"I told the girls to just keep swinging after game one," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "I'm not the least bit upset about anything that happened in that game. We hit the ball hard the whole game. We hit some shots right at people and Wise made some great plays when we had runners on."
Morgen Baker-Celis (Kentfield, Calif.) reset her career high for punchouts with seven in the night cap. She retired 15 consecutive batters at one point.
"Morgen and Lacie both pitched great and both deserved to win with their efforts in the circle," Grave said. "We have four good pitchers that are continuing to work and improve."
Smith, the reigning SAC and TSWA Player of the Week extended her hitting streak out to 12 straight games. Smith was 3-for-6 at the plate
KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) drove in five runs through the two games.
GAME ONE: UVA Wise 3, Carson-Newman 2
UVA Wise snatched a lead in the bottom of the first thanks to some timely two-out knocks. Jenna McDermott walks to lead off the game before the Cavs struck out and flew out to right. Alexis Miles doubled to right to plate McDermott from three bases away before Sarah Barrett blooped a single to right to score Miles and give Wise a 2-0 edge.
Carson-Newman countered in the top of the third to even things up. C-N started the inning with a bloop single to center from Keeley Quillen (Gate City, Va.), a walk to SieAnna Cameron (Friendsville, Tenn.) and a bunt single to third from Leah Sohm (Knoxville, Tenn.).
KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) ripped a base hit up the left field line to score Cameron and the flex player Valerie Seay (Cross Plain, Tenn.) to level things up 2-2. Sohm got put out at third 7-5 and the Eagles didn't score the rest of the inning.
The Eagles also scoring chances go by the wayside in the fifth and seventh innings.
In the fifth, Carson-Newman had two on with no one out and the bases loaded with two out, but couldn't get the timely knock to deliver a run.
In the seventh, two walks and two sacrifices gave the Eagles runners on the corners with two outs, however a flyout ended the threat for C-N.
UVA Wise made good on its scoring threat to walk off with a win in the bottom of the seventh. Barret led off the inning with a single to center before moving to second on a sac bunt. McKenna Fallwell delivered a pinch-hit single to right to give the Cavs runners on the corners. A walk loaded the bases for Kailey Huffman who delivered a bouncer back up the box to bring in the winning run.
Lacie Rinus took the hard luck loss after retiring 13 consecutive batters at one point to drop to 5-3. She walked two and struck out six while giving up six hits.
Raychel Lapallo earned the win to improve to 3-5. She scattered seven hits and five walks with six Ks and left nine base runners stranded.
Sohm tallied a multi-hit day for C-N, the 26th of her career and the seventh of the season. Shannon Smith (Channahon, Ill.) extended her career-long 11-game hitting streak with a double.
GAME TWO: Carson-Newman 10, UVA Wise 1
Carson-Newman broke out the big bats in the night cap.
After the first six batters of the game were retired in order, Keeley Quillen (Gate City, Va.) got the party started with a solo shot to deep center field to lead off the third.
Smith continued with a lead off blast to left to begin the fourth before Smith and Levi both went yard in the fifth.
In the fifth, Seay got aboard with one out after getting plunked. A flyout brought Leah Sohm (Knoxville, Tenn.) to the plate. She got hit as well and KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) came through with a two-out, three run dinger.
Smith made it back-to-back jacks for a 6-0 Eagle edge.
Carson-Newman kept at it in the top of the seventh. Maddie Gillett (Howell, Mich.) tallied an RBI double to right center before Makayla McCarthy clobbered the first pinch-hit dinger by an Eagle in eight years, when she went yard.
The three-run shot was the second of the year for McCarthy and matched Carson-Newman's single-game school record for homers in a game with five.
Wise scraped across a run in the bottom of the seventh to set the final margin at 10-1.
Baker-Celis got her first win of the season in the circle. She dealt all seven innings, scattering three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
McKenna Fallwell took the loss for the Cavs to drop to 3-6. She dealt 4.2 innings, gave up five hits and six runs.
Carson-Newman returns home Friday at noon against Bluefield State. Coverage of the games will be available on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.
