Bailey sweeps Player, Freshman of the Year; four Eagles honored by SAC
ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the first time in South Atlantic Conference history, the same player has taken home both Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in the same season.
VIDEO: Macauley Bailey Interview
VIDEO: SieAnna Cameron Interview
VIDEO: Carmen Holt Interview
VIDEO: Macey Hughes Interview
ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the first time in South Atlantic Conference history, the same player has taken home both Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in the same season.
Carson-Newman designated player Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) was unveiled as both the league's Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in the annual release of postseason awards Wednesday afternoon.
Bailey also takes home first team all-conference honors at the DP spot. She is joined on the first team by outfielder SieAnna Cameron (Alcoa, Tenn.) and utility/non-pitcher Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.). Second baseman Carmen Holt (Lawrenceburg, Ky.) makes the second team.
Bailey becomes Carson-Newman's 19th SAC Player of the Year and sixth Freshman of the Year. While Bailey is the first Eagle to take home Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season, former C-N All-American Lacie Rinus brought home Freshman of the Year and Pitcher of the Year honors in 2017. Rinus also went on to be named SAC tournament MVP that season.
The Cross Plains, Tenn.-native is the Carson-Newman's first Freshman of the Year honoree since Rinus won in 2017. She is the first Player of the Year since Rinus picked up that plaudit in 2018. Carson-Newman's 19 Player of the Year honorees are the most in the league.
Bailey has consistently been in the top five nationally throughout the season in RBI. She presently sits on 58, which is second in the nation both overall and per games played. She is 17 RBI away from matching Carson-Newman's Brittany Hefner and her single-season SAC and school record of 75.
She has driven in a run in 17 of her last 24 games and has 17 games this year where she has driven in multiple runs. Her 58 RBI are good for the seventh-most in a single-season in school history, and two away from sixth place and Sara Kelley (2014).
Bailey has set a litany of freshman records. She has the most RBI of any freshman in school history, as well as the most home runs (12), longest hitting streak (18) and the highest slugging percentage (.794). Her home runs are good for the sixth-highest single-season total in school history overall, while the hitting streak is tied for fourth and the slugging percentage sits in seventh.
From March 1 through April 11, Bailey hit successfully in 18 straight games. In that span she drove in a run in all but two games, collecting 32 RBI overall in that stretch.
Bailey was named SAC and TSWA Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks on March 12 and 19.
She enters the South Atlantic Conference tournament with a .427 batting average on 56 hits. She has 10 doubles, a triple and the 12 bombs.
Cameron earns All-SAC honors for a second straight season. She was a third team member last year. Cameron finished the regular season second in the league in batting average with a .460 average.
A Tucci/NFCA Player of the Year Watch List member, Cameron has a whopping 17 multi-hit efforts this season. She has eight two-hit days, six three-hit efforts and her first three career four-hit days. Her four-hit games came against Tusculum (April 11), Newberry (March 18) and Shorter (Feb. 12). Cameron has only gone longer than seven at-bats without a hit just once this season, and she has only been hitless in consecutive games once.
Shockingly, Cameron's longest hitting streak this season is only six games long. However, she has four separate stretches of at least three straight games where she has tallied multi-hit efforts in each contest.
The junior has swiped 13 bases in 15 attempts to rank second on the team and eighth in the conference.
Ever the dangerous arm in center, she has been credited with a trio of outfield assists.
Hughes makes the All-SAC teams for a third straight year at a third different position. She made the outfield as a freshman, was a second-team choice at first as a sophomore, and now combines the two positions to earn a spot on the first team as a utility player as a junior.
The Gibbs-product has been her usual productive self at the plate. Hughes is hitting .395 with 11 doubles, two triples and five blasts. In spite of moving from the three-hole to the two-hole in the order this season, she still has driven in 43 runs to rank second on the team and ninth in the run-happy SAC.
Her numbers this year have moved her into ninth in school history all-time with 23 home runs and ninth all-time for career RBI with 133.
Hughes tallied a career-long 11-game hitting streak from Feb. 26 to March 18.
She has 11 multi-hit efforts this year, including three hit days against Shorter (Feb. 12) and Tusculum (April 11). Hughes drove in five runs in a game for the fourth time in her career against the Pioneers as well. She has 13 multi-RBI efforts this season.
Finally, after tallying five career at-bats in her first three seasons on the banks of Mossy Creek, Carmen Holt wraps up her C-N career as a two-time All-SAC honoree. She earned third team honors as a designated player last season, but takes home second team honors at second base this year.
Holt has hit a career-best .357 this season. The speedy native of the Bluegrass State has four doubles and a team-best four triples this season. In her 200th career at-bat at UVA Wise on March 18, she drilled her first career home run.
The senior reached base in a career-best 20 straight games from Feb. 22 to March 29.
Defensively, she has been a black hole at second. Holt has made one error playing the position. Her .991 fielding percentage is the highest single-season total of any non-catcher/first baseman in school history with more than 100 total chances.
The quartet of Eagles will be in action at the SAC tournament starting Thursday in Wingate, N.C. at 1 p.m.
