FLORENCE, S.C. – In its first NCAA Tournament game since 2023, Carson-Newman (40-13) dropped its opening game to the twoseed and hosts Francis Marion, 2-1, on Thursday afternoon at the Francis Marion Softball Stadium. It marked the first meeting between the two since the Patriots eliminated the Eagles back in 2023 during their last NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Patriots took an early lead in the first inning, before the Eagles knotted it up in the fourth. However, Maddy Golka was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, giving Francis Marion the edge it needed to take the opening game.

Head coach Michael Graves was not pleased with how C-N performed overall and felt they left runs out there.

“We had multiple opportunities to score more runs than just the one we got. I thought we came off maybe a little nervous in the first inning with our younger kids,” Graves said. “Didn’t think we played too good overall, hopefully we come out better tomorrow.”

Both pitchers, Alyssa Poston from Francis Marion and C-N’s Atiana Stamper (Knoxville, Tenn.), threw complete games. The teams ended even at seven hits, but Graves voiced his frustration with his team’s approach at the plate in his postgame press conference.

“[Poston] constantly threw us outside where the wind’s blowing straight out, but we wanted to try and pull the ball into a 25-mile-an-hour wind blowing straight left to right and just pop the ball up all day,” Graves said. “We kept talking about it in between innings and kept doing the same thing. Until that fixes and they understand we know what we’re talking about, it’s not going to get any better.”

Poston pitched all seven innings, allowing just one run on seven hits while striking out four and walking no one. Stamper on the side for C-N tossed six innings, surrendering two runs with a strikeout and two walks, the least strikeouts she’s had in an outing since April 9th against Catawba.

“Poston’s a really good pitcher, her stats show that, but I think we had scouted her and done enough to figure out what she was going to try and do to us. We talked about it with the girls for several days, practiced yesterday, worked like a charm, and then we came out today and did the exact opposite of what we worked on,” Graves said. “They did a good job of making Atiana throw strikes. They were hitting on 3-0 or 3-1 counts, and we’re swinging at pretty much everything she throws, and that’s not what I want a team of mine to do.”

In the top of the first, the Eagles threatened with two on but were unable to score. Francis Marion shook off the rust right away in its first game in 18 days, as Conference Carolinas Player of the Year Madalyn White tripled to lead off the bottom of the first and scored on an error, 1-0.

The Patriots looked for more in the second, loading the bases, but Stamper navigated out of the jam to keep it at a one-run lead.

In the fourth, Carson-Newman got its offense going with two outs, a single from Sarah Walker (Mills River, N.C.) and Shelby Armstrong (Knoxville, Tenn.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Then it was senior Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) with a base hit to left to drive in Anne Marie Richards (Spring Hill, Tenn.), 1-1.

An inning later, the Eagles looked for more as Addie Saunders (Radford, Va.) led off with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.), putting the go-ahead run 60 feet away with one out. However, an infield foul-out and fly out helped Poston escape trouble.

Francis Marion used the momentum from the top half to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth. An infield single and a double placed early pressure, before a hit batter with two strikes made the bases loaded, and then Maddy Golka was hit by a pitch, the Patriots took the lead, 2-1, and didn’t surrender it.

In the seventh, C-N got the tying run on base, but were unable to bring it across.

Carson-Newman was back in action on Friday, squaring off with Anderson for the fifth time this season.

Four Lady Eagles named NFCA All-Region

Four members of Carson-Newman earned NFCA All-Region honors, with Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) making the first team, while Grace Gregory (White House, Tenn.), Malyiah Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Addie Saunders (Radford, Va.) were second team.

Bailey began her Carson-Newman career with a trip to the NCAA Tournament and will finish it out the same way. The senior has put together another stellar season in her final chapter, batting a career-best .444, totaling seven home runs with 58 RBIs. Her 79 hits are the fifth-most in a single season and put her at 270 in her career.

In 2026, Bailey recorded her fourth All-SAC honor at a fourth different position, making the first team at first base. This is the fourth All-Region honor of her career.

Gregory transferred after a long journey that included three prior stops. She is fourth on the team with a .406 batting average, second with 54 RBIs and has blasted a team-best 10 home runs. Her 22 doubles are a singleseason record in Carson-Newman history. In conference games, she batted .466 with seven home runs and 28 RBIs. She was named First Team All-SAC at third base for her year.

Smith burst onto the scene and has put together an outstanding freshman season,winning SAC Freshman of the Year and earning first-team all-conference honors.

The Knoxville native has tallied 81 hits, the fourth most in a single season at Carson-Newman. She is third on the team with a .414 batting average and 23 RBIs, reaching base at a .453 clip. Smith is just as dangerous on the bases, scoring 46 times, second-most on the team and leads C-N with 24 stolen bases.

Saunders is a product of endless hard work, continuously improving her game as the season progresses, and was rewarded by making the All-SAC First Team.

The sophomore is second on the team with a .415 batting average, nearly a whole hundredth from her first year, and has shattered her freshman campaign numbers. She has collected 69 hits, including 12 extra-base hits, totaling 27 RBIs, and has flipped her strikeout-towalk ratio, cutting her strikeouts in half and doubling her walks. Saunders has reached base safely in 24 of her last 26 games at the dish and has had a career-long 16-game on-base streak this season. The Radford, Virginia, native has 23 multi-hit games, more than tripling her total from last season.