ORMOND BEACH, Fla., -- There is good news and there is good news coming from the MEAC Softball Tournament. The North Carolina A&T softball team is headed to the semifinals of the MEAC Tournament. Couple that with the fact the Aggies used solid hitting and pitching to get there; and there was not a whole lot that went wrong on Thursday.
Junior Jennifer Luper recorded her second shutout of the day to lead North Carolina A&T to an 8-0 win over S.C. State at the Sports Complex. Luper (16-13) earned a shutout win earlier in the day against Coppin State. Luper struck out eight Eagles and surrendered three hits over five innings in a 10-0 win that opened the tournament for the Aggies.
Senior Jessie Larson earned her ninth home run of the season with a three-run blast off of MEAC Pitcher of the Year and Coppin State sophomore Paige Arnold. Channing Statham hit a two-run homer off of Arnold in the third.
In what will be the only winners' bracket game of the day, the Aggies (27-25) advance to play Bethune-Cookman Friday afternoon at 1. The Wildcats are 3-0 against the Aggies this season. If the Aggies win they will advance to Saturday's championship game. If they lose, they will play at 6 p.m., on Friday for a chance to advance to the championship game.
Against the Bulldogs, Luper gave up four hits over five innings and struck out two. She received offensive help from senior Britney Reddick, who went 3-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
Luper's counterpart on the mound, sophomore Raven Johnson, matched Luper pitch-for-pitch over the first four innings of the game. The only difference in the game until the start of the Aggies fifth was an RBI sacrifice fly off the bat of N.C. A&T's Bianca Alsobrook.
But the Aggies put together a seven-run fifth by opening the inning with four straight singles. The fourth single was a two-run RBI single by senior Lillian Bullock. Reddick, who was responsible for starting the Aggies rally, was also responsible for ending it. Her RBI single scored Ryanne Hill to give A&T the eight-run lead needed to end the contest early.
Statham and Hill had two hits apiece. Bullock and Alsobrook had two RBIs apiece.
Note: The Aggies had four players make second-team All-MEAC. Junior Jennifer Luper earned her second all-conference nod by posting a 2.29 ERA...Senior Jessie Larson hit eight home runs during the regular-season...Senior Yahamma White earned her fourth appearance on a MEAC all-conference, while senior Bianca Alsobrook was rewarded with her first appearance on an all-conference squad.
