19th-ranked Eagles make first SAC road trip of the season to face rival Railsplitters
After splitting its opening doubleheader in South Atlantic Conference play, No. 19 Carson-Newman (20-5, 1-1) looks to build momentum against Lincoln Memorial (8-14, 0-2) on Saturday.
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VIDEO: In the Booth at Lincoln Memorial (Game 1)
VIDEO: In the Booth at Lincoln Memorial (Game 2)
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After splitting its opening doubleheader in South Atlantic Conference play, No. 19 Carson-Newman (20-5, 1-1) looks to build momentum against Lincoln Memorial (8-14, 0-2) on Saturday.
Unlike previous road trips, the journey to the Dorothy Neely Softball Complex is just over an hour north of Mossy Creek.
The Eagles are coming off the heels of Tuesday's doubleheader against UVA Wise. The Highland Cavaliers took game one 7-4 before C-N used the loss as fuel to bounce back with a commanding 7-2 win in the second contest.
"I hate splitting, I don't like a split. They came out and they beat us," head coach Michael Graves said. "We still left a lot of people on base, but we were better and situational as far as balls and strikes in game two, first game, we swung in a lot of pitches that she wanted us to swing at that I did not want to swing at, and it got us in trouble."
Across the two games, the Eagles totaled 27 hits and left 17 runners on base. In the second game, they tallied 16 hits, tying for the most in a game this season.
The top four hitters in the Carson-Newman order led the way offensively. Malyiah Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) went 6-for-8 with four runs scored, Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) was 4-for-8 with three runs scored, and Grace Gregory (White House, Tenn.) was 5-for-7 with a pair of RBIs.
Meanwhile, Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) went 3-for-7 with a trio of RBIs, continuing her climb for the most RBIs in SAC history, with 229, passing Cailah Niles' (Anderson 2015-18) 226 mark, for third-most all-time. Her race to the top will be a major storyline for the upcoming contests. The senior only trails Haley Simonds (Newberry 2017-21), 233, for second and Kayson Boatner's (Anderson 2019-23) current record of 239 for the most.
Bailey is the active leader in Division II softball in career RBIs and is currently tied for 23rd all-time.
In the circle, Carson-Newman got a strong start from Lorelei Spradlin (Blacksburg, Va.) in game two. Spradlin picked up the win, allowing just the two runs across 5.2 innings of work, and improved to 3-0 on the season. Her 2.77 ERA is second on the team, behind Atiana Stamper's (Knoxville, Tenn.) 2.53.
"Hopefully she's back, because that kid's good," Graves said. "I've said it before, if we can get her and Aitana both going at the same time, we're in good shape."
The 2026 season has not started the way Lincoln Memorial (8-14, 0-2) would have wanted. The Railsplitters were picked third in the preseason SAC coaches' poll, two points ahead of Carson-Newman.
In its last time out, LMU dropped both games in the SAC opener on the road at Emory & Henry, 4-2 in game one and 7-5 in the second game.
A trio of hitters, Hanna Bogoski, Reese Vivrette and Hannah McMeen, lead the charge on the offensive end all batting above .300.
Bogoski leads the team with a .368 batting average and gets on base at a .442 clip. She has tallied one home run with eight RBIs and is 6-for-6 on stolen bases.
Vivrette is second on the team with a .351 average but holds a team-best 27 hits on the campaign. The senior has nine RBIs so far and is a perfect 4-for-4 with stolen bases.
McMeen is third with a .314 batting average, while her pair of home runs and 12 RBIs are currently tied for the team high.
Meanwhile, junior Kristin Griffin is tied with McMeen with a team-leading two home runs and 12 RBIs, but is batting just .226 on the year.
As a staff, the Railsplitters pitchers have combined for 77 strikeouts this season, the lowest mark in the SAC. Aslynn Lupton holds a team-low 2.96 ERA and is coming off her first start of the season against the Wasps, where she allowed seven runs on seven hits through 5.2 innings.
Jasmine Kaylor, with a 4.65 ERA and a 3-4 record with 14 strikeouts, along with Brooke Strickland, who possesses a 4.86 ERA with a 2-4 record and the team-best 29 strikeouts, have been the primary starters this season.
This weekend marks the 72nd all-time meeting between the two schools. Last season, the Eagles swept the doubleheader during the regular season, but Lincoln Memorial won the meeting in the SAC Tournament, 7-1, in the game that ended Carson-Newman's season.
Saturday's first pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. from Harrogate, Tennessee. The game can be heard on cneagles.com/live or watched on cneagles.com/FloSB with a FloSports subscription. Fans can also watch the radio crew at work via a press row feed on YouTube.
