Lady Eagles lose Super Regional opener to North Georgia
DAHLONEGA, Ga. -- Solid fielding has been a major key to Carson-Newman's success during its postseason run, but it turned out to be the weakness Friday night against top-ranked North Georgia in game one of the NCAA Division II Softball Dahlonega Super Regional.
May 15, 2009
DAHLONEGA, Ga. -- Solid fielding has been a major key to Carson-Newman's success during its postseason run, but it turned out to be the weakness Friday night against top-ranked North Georgia in game one of the NCAA Division II Softball Dahlonega Super Regional.
North Georgia took advantage of four Lady Eagle errors in the first two innings to score five runs en route to a 6-3 victory at the North Georgia Softball Complex.
The miscues snapped a four-game errorless streak for the Lady Eagles.
"We played a phenomenal team," C-N coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "We knew it would be a game where we couldn't make mistakes. You just can't give an extra base to them because all the way through the lineup they have good hitters. They are going to take advantage of any mistakes that you make."
With the loss, C-N (32-16) faces elimination on Saturday in game two against the Saints (47-3) at 1 p.m., with an if necessary game slated for 3:30 p.m. The win was North Georgia's 24th straight.
The Lady Eagles were effective against Region Pitcher of the Year Sarah Phillips as they collected eight hits on the night. Stephanie Templeton (Ringgold, Ga.), Amber Palmer (Kennesaw, Ga.) and Brianne Coon (Orlando, Fla.) each had two hits in the loss.
North Georgia tallied seven hits led by Laura Voyles, who went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs to lead the Saints, while Hilary Cox also produced two hits.
Phillips (36-1) worked all seven innings for the Saints to earn the win to extend her winning streak to 33 games. She gave up three runs on eight hits and struck out four Lady Eagles.
Templeton (12-3) was tagged with the loss after surrendering six runs (three earned) on seven hits in six innings of work. She also walked five batters and struck out three.
Templeton helped her own cause in the top of the first as she delivered a two-out solo home run to left field to give the Lady Eagles a 1-0 lead
The Saints answered in the bottom of the first with the help of two C-N errors. Voyles drew a walk to lead off the inning, and Kasey Knight followed by reaching on a fielding error. Courtney McGuire then drove in Voyles with a sacrifice fly to right field, but Knight also scored on a throwing error on the play to give North Georgia a 2-1 lead.
North Georgia pushed across three more runs in the second. Cox ripped a double to left center to lead off the inning and later scored on a dropped fly ball error. Kayla Martin drove in a run with a double to right, and Voyles singled up the middle to drive in the final run of the inning to give the Saints a 5-1 cushion.
The Saints continued to add to their lead in the fourth, as Voyles blasted a solo homer to left field to give them a 6-1 advantage.
After Laura Potts (Jefferson City, Tenn.) scored on a throwing error for C-N in the fifth, the Lady Eagles had their best chance to make a dent in North Georgia's lead in the sixth as they loaded the bases with one out. However, C-N was able to produced only one run on a Mary Shealy (Clinton, S.C.) RBI groundout in the inning to trim the Saints' lead to 6-3.
"We were in a good situation," Hollifield said. "We had some speed on the bases. We were just hoping for the base hit. We battled and the kids did not give in. I applaud them for that, but if we are going to try to compete (Saturday), we have to play seven strong innings."
