Softball opens 2013 campaign with road double header versus Belmont Abbey
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman’s softball team begins its 2013 season with a home double header against Belmont Abbey Sunday at 1 p.m. The Eagles – picked fourth in the SAC preseason poll – do battle with a Crusaders club that finished 2012 with a 15-35 record and 8-14 mark in Conference Carolinas play.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
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4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 0 |
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JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's softball team begins its 2013 season with a road double header against Belmont Abbey Sunday at 1 p.m. The Eagles – picked fourth in the SAC preseason poll – do battle with a Crusaders club that finished 2012 with a 15-35 record and 8-14 mark in Conference Carolinas play.
The Eagles are led by two preseason all-South Atlantic Conference selections in Sara Kelley (Birchwood, Tenn.) and Caitlyn Lance (East Ridge, Tenn.). Senior catcher Bri Shoemake (Ooltewah, Tenn.) also returns after leading the Eagles in batting average (.372), RBI (51), hits (67) and doubles (17) in 2012.
However, for Carson-Newman head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield, whose Eagles debut 11 freshman, the game is as much about the unknowns as it is those certain commodities.
"They're like us," Kazee-Hollifield said. "They've got a new ball club. They have just about as many as we do in terms of newcomers."
Gone is the Crusaders Aleisha Peck, Belmont Abbey's leader in batting average from a year ago. But also gone is Carson-Newman's Mary Shealey who started all but two games for the Eagles in the circle last season and pitched 60 more innings (351) than anyone else in the SAC.
The Eagles swept the Crusaders in a double header in 2012, run ruling the Crusaders in the first game 8-0 before taking the second contest 7-2 on the road.
While those games came in the middle of March, the Kazee-Hollifield said the Eagles will have to be hot out of the gate, even if it's a tad chilly outside.
"We've just got to come out and be ready to play," Kazee-Hollifield said. "Regardless of the temperature or the weather, we've just got to be ready to go. It's like basketball, those first innings are as critical as tipoff in a basketball game."
Shoemake combined to go 6-for-7 at the plate with five RBI and five runs scored in the two wins last season. Lance and Kelley each added two RBI a piece in the series as well. Shoemake and Kelley each homered in the series for the Eagles.
C-N didn't score until the third inning of either game last season against Belmont Abbey, something Kazee-Hollifield said the Eagles can ill afford to do in 2013.
"You've got to go back to being ready," Kazee-Hollifield said. "Anybody can beat anybody on any given day. It's early, so let's see what we've got."
First pitch for the first game of C-N 2013 campaign is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday. Fans follow the game through Belmont Abbey's athletics site, abbeyathletics.com.
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