Mallena Wright had four hits, three runs scored, two stolen bases and a base on balls in the Wolves sweep of Carson-Newman.
Garry Talbert | Newberry College Athletics
NEWBERRY — For the first time under Head Coach Ciria Triplett, the Newberry softball team took both games of a doubleheader from a ranked opponent. They swept the 18th-ranked Carson-Newman Eagles on March 26, at the Smith Road Complex. With the wins, the Wolves improved to 26-10 overall and 7-5 in SAC play.
Game one:
Newberry broke the ice in the bottom of the first via a Hannah Towery sacrifice fly that scored Mallena Wright who led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third with a groundout and wild pitch.
The Wolves held the 1-0 lead until the fourth as Lindsey Foster held the SAC’s best offense at bay, until a solo shot in the top of the fourth. However, the Wolves responded right back in the bottom of the fourth by scoring four runs, all with two outs. Tori Rose brought home two with a single and Vanessa Wilson capped the inning with a homer to dead center field to give the Wolves a 5-1 lead after four.
Newberry was not done there as they continued to tack on in the bottom of the fifth with a Towery RBI single. They added two more in the bottom of the sixth with a Sierra Brogdon two-RBI single for a seven run lead at 8-1.
The Eagles did not go quietly in the seventh, they loaded the bases and plated three runs to make it 8-4 and have the tying run at the plate but Lindsey Foster got Carmen Holt to ground out to secure the upset win.
Game two:
Newberry once again struck early as Towery brought home Wright once again with an RBI double. Mackenzie Turner added her team-leading seventh home run of the season to give the Wolves an early 3-0 lead. The Wolves added two more in the bottom of the third as Brogdon grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Wright. After a Towery groundout, Turner added her third RBI of the game on a single to make it 5-0 after three.
Once again, the Eagles did not go quietly they scored one in the fourth, two in the fifth, and one more in the sixth to make it a one run ballgame. However, Triplett trusted her pitcher in each of those situations and Brittany Crowson was able to escape a bases loaded jam in the sixth only allowing one run to score.
Ally Sullivan came in for the seventh looking for her second save of the season, and found herself in a sticky situation as the Eagles were timing her up as well with several hard hit balls, one of which was a double. However, Sullivan was not phased as she got a deep flyout to Wright to secure the sweep and Newberry’s fourth consecutive win over the Eagles.