Smith wins Freshman of the Year, as six Eagles earn All-SAC honors
ROCK HILL, S.C. - After recording its most wins since 2017, Carson-Newman softball had six members of its team record postseason honors. Freshman Malyiah Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) was named South Atlantic Conference Freshman of the Year and First Team All-SAC, alongside Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.), Grace Gregory (White House, Tenn.), Addie Saunders (Radford, Va.) and Atiana Stamper (Knoxville, Tenn.), with Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) being named on the third team.
VIDEO: Malyiah Smith Interview
VIDEO: Macauley Bailey Interview
VIDEO: Grace Gregory Interview
VIDEO: Addie Saunders Interview
VIDEO: Atiana Stamper Interview
ROCK HILL, S.C. - After recording its most wins since 2017, Carson-Newman softball had six members of its team record postseason honors. Freshman Malyiah Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) was named South Atlantic Conference Freshman of the Year and First Team All-SAC, alongside Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.), Grace Gregory (White House, Tenn.), Addie Saunders (Radford, Va.) and Atiana Stamper (Knoxville, Tenn.), with Abbi Martin (Gadsden, Ala.) being named on the third team. Outside of Bailey, these are the first all-conference honors for Smith, Gregory, Saunders, Stamper and Martin.
Smith became the first Eagle to win Freshman of the Year since 2023, when her teammate Macauley Bailey did so. She finished the year with a .427 batting average, the third-best in the conference.
The Knoxville native has been at the top of the order and starting shortstop in every game this season for one of the nation's top offenses. Her 73 hits are the highest mark in the South Atlantic Conference, the Southeast Region, and tied for fourth in Division II. The Knoxville native is also second in the SAC with 22 stolen bases and is sixth with 42 runs scored.
She leads Carson-Newman with 26 multi-hit days, including 10 three-hit outings. Smith has had a nine-game hitting streak and reached base safely in 16 consecutive games. Defensively, she is second in the SAC with 92 assists.
In her senior season, Bailey paced one of the conference's top offenses with a .458 batting average, the highest in the South Atlantic Conference. Additionally, she is second with 54 RBIs and has added seven home runs. On March 26th, against Milligan, she passed Anderson's Kayson Boatner for the most RBIs in SAC history. The Cross Plains native is the Division II active leader in RBIs with 244.
She is second in the SAC with 71 hits, top-15 nationally, third with a .530 on-base percentage, tied for third with 25 extra-base hits and seventh with 23 walks.
This season she has had career-highs in batting average, hits, runs scored, on-base percentage, walks and putouts, starting every game in the field this season. Her 15 multi-RBI performances lead C-N and 24 multi-hit games are the most in her career, tied for second on the team.
After missing all of last season with an injury at North Alabama, Gregory has been one of the most dangerous bats in the Carson-Newman order. After overcoming a slow start, the White House, Tennessee native has gone on to lead the Eagles with nine home runs, the fifth most in the SAC, to go along with her 47 RBIs, the second-most on the team and third in conference, and is second in the SAC with 27 extra-base hits.
During South Atlantic Conference games, she has only elevated her play. Gregory is second in the SAC in the three major statistical categories with a .466 batting average, seven home runs and 28 RBIs. Her .849 slugging percentage during conference play is the highest in the SAC and is second with a .524 on-base percentage.
Gregory ended the season going 27-for-51 at the plate, .529, totaling five home runs and 24 RBIs across the final 16 games. She is second on the team with 14 multi-RBI games and has added 15 multi-hit games.
Against Newberry, she hit a pair of home runs, the only Eagle this season with a multi-home run game, and has a single-game team-high 6 RBIs in a game against Tusculum. She was named SAC and TSWA Player of the Week on April 13th.
Stamper quickly introduced herself as one of the top freshman arms in the South Atlantic Conference. The Knoxville native is holding opponents to a .193 batting average, the lowest mark in Carson-Newman history, and the only player to hold opponents to a sub-.200 average.
She is fifth in the SAC with a 2.34 ERA, fourth with 109 strikeouts, and sixth in wins with 13. She has a pair of 12-strikeout performances, first against Indiana (Pa.) on March 1st and then against Mars Hill on March 28th, becoming the first freshman since Lacie Rinus in 2017 to record multiple double-digit strikeout performances.
Stamper has six outings where she has posted seven or more strikeouts. She leads the team in strikeouts, innings pitched with 116.2 and nine complete games. She was named TSWA Pitcher of the Week on March 31st, after a week where she went 2-0 against Tusculum and Mars Hill with two complete games, 15 innings pitched, allowing two earned runs and striking out 16.
As the season moved along, Addie Saunders elevated her play after each week. She finished the year fifth in the South Atlantic Conference with a .414 batting average and added 24 RBIs. Her 60 hits are tied for seventh in the conference and she's seventh with a .469 on-base percentage. She totaled nine extra-base hits, with three triples, tied for fourth in the SAC.
Saunders started every game in left field for the Eagles and has posted career-best marks in average, hits, tripled her extra-base hit total with 12, RBIs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, walks and went 5-for-5 on stolen bases. She cut her strikeout numbers in half, down to nine.
The Radford, Virginia, native had 20 multi-hit games and six multi-RBI performances. Saunders closed the season on a hot streak across the final 21 games of the year. The sophomore reached base in 19 of the last 21 games, going 31-68 with 7 XBH and 10 RBI. She registered hits in 13 of the last 15 games. In a span from March 14th to April 9th, Saunders reached base in 16 consecutive games and had a 10-game hitting streak, both the longest of her career, and was 28-for-55, .509 at the plate.
Abbi Martin has been enjoying a career season in her final year at Carson-Newman. The Gadsden, Alabama, native has posted career highs with a .383 batting average, 38 RBIs, a .433 on-base percentage, and a .471 slugging percentage. Her career-best 62 hits are good for fifth in the conference.
This season, she has tallied 24 multi-hit games, the second-most on Carson-Newman, along with 13 multi-RBI games, both career-best single-season marks. Martin, known for her tremendous speed, has 52 runs scored, tied for first in the SAC, and is 19-for-23, third in the conference. She will finish her Carson-Newman career in the top 10 in stolen bases and runs scored.
Martin has stepped up when the lights are the brightest with 11 game-winning plays. Four of them have come in 6th or later, including a trio of walk-offs, an RBI single against Indiana (Pa.) on March 1st and had both in the walk-off sweep of Mars Hill, scored off a throwing error in game one and a single in game two.
Carson-Newman (37-10, 16-6 SAC) secured the No. 3 seed and will face the No. 6 seed Catawba (26-23, 11-11 SAC) in the first round of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's contest is set for a 2:00 p.m. start, with Sunday slated for 1:00 p.m. first pitch in Jefferson City, Tennessee, at the Vickee-Kazee Hollifield Softball Complex. Fans can watch the game on FloSports with a subscription, listen on cneagles.com/live or watch the In The Booth feed on the Carson-Newman Eagle Sports Network YouTube channel.
