Lady Eagles split doubleheader with Erskine
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's Sarah Kelley had a three-run double and Caitlyn Lance belted a three-run home run as the Lady Eagles split a doubleheader with visiting Erskine College on Monday afternoon. Erskine won the opener, 5-4. C-N won the second game, also 5-4.
With the split, C-N moves to 26-19 on the year, while Erskine is now 16-18.
Game 1 – Erskine 5, Carson-Newman 4
Visiting Erskine scored five runs in the first two innings and held on for a 5-4 win in Game 1 over the Lady Eagles.
A solo home run from Larissa Shannon and a two-run double by Erica McCarson carried the Fleet offense.
Shannon belted a solo shot in the first inning off of C-N starter Mary Shealy to give the Fleet a 1-0 lead. Erskine followed with a two-out rally, scoring three times in the second. A bloop single to right field by Kelsey Spurrier and a pair of walks by Shealy loaded the bases for McCarson, who ripped a double off the fence in right center.
C-N answered in the first as Lance blasted a three-run home run to left to give C-N a 3-2 through an inning, but C-N struggled to get anything going offensively after the first.
Lance and Cassidy Skeen each had two hits to lead the C-N offense.
Game 2 – Carson-Newman 5, Erskine 4
Kelley gave C-N its first lead of the game in the third on a three-run double and Shealy shut down Erskine in a rare relief appearance as the Lady Eagles won Game 2, 5-4.
Erskine struck first in the top of the first as Bailey Thorton's two-out double gave the Fleet a 2-0 lead. Starter Madison Burnett recorded the first two outs before surrendering back-to-back doubles.
C-N would get a run back in the bottom of the first as Cassidy Skeen reached on an error and later scored on a RBI single by Lance to left field.
Erskine added to its lead in the second as the Flying Fleet capitalized on a a pair of throwing errors by Burnett. Shealy came on to induce a ground ball to second by Morgan Purcell to work the Lady Eagles out of the jam trailing only 3-1.
The Lady Eagles took the lead in the third on a three-run double by Sara Kelley. The sophomore doubled over the head of Erskine left fielder Lindsay Waters to score three. It was the first time C-N had burned a very shallow Erskine outfield all day.
Kelley almost never had the chance to bat. C-N's Kim Whaley was called safe on a tag play at first as the throw from shortstop Ericka McCarson pulled first baseman Colleen Gardner off the bag. Whaley stayed on first after a pair of conferences, then Kelley came up with C-N's biggest hit of the doubleheader.
Mary Shealy followed Kelley with an RBI single to push the lead out to 5-3. Bri Shoemake also had a single in the inning as C-N battered Erskine starter Heather Richey.
Shealy (WP, 26-19) kept the Fleet at bay, scattering four hits and allowing only an unearned run in relief.
Carson-Newman returns to action on Wednesday. The Lady Eagles host Mars Hill College at 2 p.m. in South Atlantic Conference action.
