#1 Saints Rally With Six Unanswered Runs To Down Carson-Newman 6-3

DAHLONEGA, GA – North Georgia College & State University rallied from a first-inning deficit Friday evening to score six straight runs and defeat Carson-Newman 6-3 in game one of the 2009 NCAA Southeast Dahlonega Regional.

North Georgia continued their winning streak, taking their 24th consecutive game and 39 of their last 40, improving to 47-3 on the season. Carson-Newman falls for the first time in eight games, dropping their record to 32-16.

The Lady Eagles jumped on the Saints in the early going, using a solo blast with two outs in the first inning off the bat of Stephanie Templeton to give Carson-Newman an early 1-0 lead.

North Georgia came right back and took the lead in bottom of the opening frame, taking advantage of two Carson-Newman errors and scoring a pair of runs without the benefit of a hit. Laura Voyles led off and walked and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Courtney McGuire. The Saints took the lead for good later in the inning as Kasey Knight forced the issue, tagging and advancing to third and scoring on an error for a 2-1 advantage.

The Saints came right back in the second innings and added three more run on as many hits. Hilary Cox led off and doubled to left center, and Stephanie Farmakis followed and reached on an error before both runners stole a base and gave North Georgia a 3-1 lead. Kayla Martin and Voyles continued to keep the offense going in the second inning, adding RBI hits as the Saints raced out to a 5-1 lead.

After a scoreless third inning, Voyles continued her clutch hitting in the fourth, sending a line drive homer to left center as the Saints extended their lead to 6-1.

Carson-Newman put pressure on the Saints in the fifth inning, scoring a run courtesy of a North Georgia error before Sarah Phillips induced a groundout and strikeout to end the inning.

The Lady Eagles added one more run in the sixth inning as Mary Shealy notched a run batted in with a groundout for the final run of the game.

Phillips ( 36-1) wins her 33rd consecutive game, tossing another complete game, allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out
four.

Templeton (12-3) falls for the first time this postseason, allowing six runs, three earned, on seven hits while striking out three and walking five.

These same two teams will play the second game in the best of three series Saturday afternoon with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. Game three, if necessary, will be played Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The winner of the series will advance to the Division II College World Series in Salem, Virgina.

Carson-Newman Head Coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield

Opening Thoughts:
"We played a phenomenal team and we knew that it would be a game where
you couldn’t make mistakes and we would have to be aggressive in the
batter's box. A slow start the first couple of innings and you can't do
that against North Georgia"

On the possibly being nervous:
"It could be, I don't know if I could speak for all of them. I really
didn't sense that. I felt like we had a couple of mistakes with them
(North Georgia) having runners on base, field the ball first and then
make your throw. Just some mistakes like that and not calling time
correctly and a runner advances and scores. You just can't give an
extra base to them because all of the way through the lineup, one
through nine they have good hitters."

On Sarah Stephanie Templeton:
"She really has been doing that as of late. I just didn't feel like (we
 were there) defensively and that really has been our strong pursuit
these past seven to ten ballgames, but just made too many mistakes
tonight."

On having the bases loaded and getting only one run:
"We were in a good situation with some speed on the bases. The short
game is out of there and we were just hoping for a base hit. We
battled, the kids did not give in and I applaud them for that. Again,
if you are goinOn what Coach Kazee-Holifield will tell her team tonight:
"One thing we really have discussed is that North Georgia is going to
play hard for seven innings. We can't just come out and be comfortable
and play well for three. We have got to carry that throughout. We are
going to look and say we out hit them but we did not out defend them.
They have a phenomenal pitcher but we will have to come out and play a
solid game tomorrow."

North Georgia Head Coach Mike Davenport

On rebounding after allowing early runs:
"I thought our kids did a pretty nice job battling back after the first
inning home run and settled down a little bit during the first four
innings. Then in the fifth and sixth inning Carson-Newman took
advantage of some of our mistakes."

On getting out of the bases loaded:
"Sarah (Phillips) made some pitches when she had too and our defense
handled the routine plays today. Some of the other plays we usually
play a little bit better defensively. We only got charged for one error
on the game but defensively I felt there were some opportunities that we
left out there."

On Laura Voyles:
"She was two for three at the plate. The leadoff walk in the first
inning also set the tone for us to answer the home run by Carson-Newman.
"Lup" has had a great junior season defensively as well. We saw her
make a tough catch against the fence on the third base side on one of
their better hitters."

On the outfield making good plays:
"We have got some pretty good outfielders. We feel that if they have a
chance to catch them they are going to catch them and they did a little
bit tonight. I felt like the shallow hit ball in centerfield we should
have caught. But you have to credit Carson-Newman they continued to
battle and we knew it was going to be a war and it is. Tomorrow I
expect the same thing."

On the keys for North Georgia tomorrow:
"I think for both teams probably just to settle down and just realize
that it is just another game. I know there is a lot on the line for
both of these teams and the kids have worked really hard to get to this
point."

On winning game one in a three game series:
"No doubt, it sets it up for tomorrow. For us having Sarah Phillips to
go on the hill tomorrow and them having to beat her twice, if it goes
that direction and we really like our chances in that scenario. We knew
Carson-Newman was going to come out and battle."