The South Atlantic Conference and AstroTurf Present Senior Spotlights Featuring Carson-Newman Softball and Track & Field

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – In light of the recent events of the COVID-19 pandemic that canceled the remainder of the 2020 South Atlantic Conference spring sports seasons, the SAC along with its corporate partner AstroTurf, will be presenting the SAC AstroTurf Senior Spotlights. These highlights will showcase the spring sports teams at each of our 12 institutions and will give fans a brief overview of the team's shortened season, while highlighting the 2020 senior student-athletes on each team. 

We continue our AstroTurf Senior Spotlights with the Carson-Newman University Eagles and the softball and men's and women's track & field teams.

SOFTBALL

The Eagle softball team finished out the 2020 season with an overall record of 14-4, going 4-0 in SAC play. They won nine of their last 10 games their played, including sweeps of Limestone, North Greenville, Mars Hill and Tusculum. Leading the team were four seniors: Abby Fiessinger, KaraLynne Levi, Lacie Rinus, and Taylor Scott. 

Fiessinger, a 2019 All-American, closed out the season with a .414 batting average, a team-leading 25 RBIs, two home runs, four doubles, three triples and 14 runs scored. She ranks fourth all-time at Carson-Newman in career home runs with 29.

Levi led the team in batting, hitting an outstanding .463 for the year with eight doubles, two home runs, 21 RBIs and 10 runs scored. In addition to hitting the ball, Levi was really good at getting hit by the ball. She got hit by a pitch 54 times in her career - the second most in school history and the 18th most in NCAA history. She finishes her career as an Eagle with the best fielding percentage in program history at .996.  She played the last two seasons of her career at catcher error free.

Rinus has been one of the best utility players in the SAC for the last two seasons, excelling in the outfield and in the pitching circle. She closes out 2020 with 6-2 record in the circle with five complete games and 2.90 ERA in 48 and a third innings of work. She allowed just 50 hits with nine walks and 29 strikeouts. As a hitter, she finishes the season batting .224 with a double, 11 RBIs and six runs scored. For her career, Rinus struck out 554 batters, which is fourth all-time in Carson-Newman history. 

Scott finished the year with a .256 batting average, collecting four doubles, a home run and six RBIs. She started 164 games at first base for the Eagles, with 988 putouts, which is third all-time in Eagle history and her 34 double plays is also third all-time in Carson-Newman history.

2020 Eagle Softball Seniors

MEN'S & WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
The Carson-Newman men's and women's track & field teams both had outstanding showings during the 2019-20 indoor season. Led by 21 seniors combined, both teams placed fourth overall at the 2020 SAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, with the men's team earning 90 points total and the women earning 51 points total.

Highlighting the 2020 SAC Indoor championships for the senior women's student-athletes were Hannah Moorhouse's sixth place finish in the high jump (1.56m), Shelby Reynold's 10^th place finish in the long jump (5.01m) and a sixth place finish by the DMR team that featured senior Holly Talbut-Smith. 

Leading the way for the men's seniors this season was Caleb Agee with the Eagle's top performances in the 400-meter and 800-meter runs with times of 50.30 seconds and 2:00.58, respectively. Agee was also the 2019 SAC Track & Field Scholar-Athlete and was a 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-American.

Conal McCambridge turned in the top times in the 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs. Posting times of 9:03.59 in the 3,000m and 15:41.23 in the 5,000m. 

Jahvad McDermott, a 2019 second team All-American in the triple jump, led the way during the 2020 indoor season with a triple jump of 15.08 meters.

Austin Gramann was the leader of the throws with team-leading tosses of 13.53 meters in the shot put and 14.18 meters in the weight throw.

2020 Eagle Men's & Women's Track & Field Seniors

AstroTurf is an official corporate partner of the South Atlantic Conference and title sponsor of the Conference's Player of the Week awards program.

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