Kelley's grand slam, Kee's two homers lead C-N to sweep at Anderson, 8-0 and 5-3
ANDERSON, S.C. – Freshmen Sara Kelley (Birchwood, Tenn.) hit her first career grand slam and shortstop Whitney Key (Knoxville, Tenn.) homered twice and added six RBIs to lead Carson-Newman to a South Atlantic Conference road sweep of Anderson University on Sunday afternoon, 8-0 and 5-3.
ANDERSON, S.C. – Freshmen Sara Kelley (Birchwood, Tenn.) hit her first career grand slam and shortstop Whitney Key (Knoxville, Tenn.) homered twice and added six RBIs to lead Carson-Newman to a South Atlantic Conference road sweep of Anderson University on Sunday afternoon, 8-0 and 5-3.
The sweep allowed Carson-Newman to move to 9-1 over its' last 10 games and improve to 30-11-1 overall and 8-2 in league play. Overall, the Lady Eagles are 23-5 in their last 28 games.
Anderson (19-14, 1-7 SAC) dropped its seventh straight contest.
Game #1
Carson-Newman 8, Anderson 0 (6 innings)
Carson-Newman struck for five runs in the first inning, fueled by a grand slam from freshman Sara Kelley. Anderson starting pitcher Alex Waldroup had trouble getting into a groove as she surrendered four consecutive walks in the first inning to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Kelley followed with her second home run of the season to increase the lead to 5-0.
Carson-Newman continued pouring on the offense in the third inning when senior shortstop Whitney Kee hit the second home run of the game, a two-run shot that followed an error by the AU defense.
Mary Shealy started the game for the Eagles and earned the shutout after giving up six hits. The junior scattered the Trojans' bats throughout the matchup, leading to her 27th complete game effort. Waldroup (3-3) went one-third of an inning, giving up five runs. Kelsey Davis entered the game in a relief spot and pitched five 2/3 innings, while giving up just one earned run.
Laura Jansky was the lone Trojan player to have a multi-hit game as she went two-for-three. Kelley and Kee both accounted for all eight Lady Eagle runs as they went a combined three-for-five.
Game #2
Carson-Newman 5, Anderson 3
Carson-Newman jumped out to a quick lead in the first inning, as Kee recorded a two-out double with two runners on to give the Eagles the 2-0 advantage.
Danielle Swygert got the Trojans' offense off the ground in the second inning when she hit her seventh homer of the season to right-centerfield.
Carson-Newman used back-to-back home runs from Shealy and Kee, as well as a Trojan error, to tack three runs on the board in the third inning. Down 5-1, the bottom part of the frame saw the Trojans cut into the lead when Kelly McInnes led off with a fly to right field that the C-N outfield was unable to track down due to the bright sun. The sophomore wound up on third base and scored two batters later when the sun again played a factor as Charlotte Sieber lifted another fly to right.
The Trojans trimmed the deficit to 5-3 in the fourth on Amber Duncan's 19th RBI of the season when she singled up the middle to score Swygert. But it was as close as AU would get on the afternoon.
Casey Deer (12-10) started the game for Anderson, tossing her 20th complete game, giving up four earned runs. Shealy pitched her second complete game, giving up just two earned runs as she went undefeated on the day.
Shealy and Kee both went a combined 4-for-7 as they accounted for all five Lady Eagles runs in the game. Swygert and Emily Monteith each went 2-for-3.
Carson-Newman returns to action on Tuesday at home against Tusculum College in a key South Atlantic Conference doubleheader. First pitch is at 2 p.m. at the Lady Eagle Softball Complex.
