GREENSBORO - North Carolina A&T didn't have trouble hitting the ball sharply. A lot of those sharply hit balls were unfortunately hit directly at S.C. State defenders, however.
The Bulldogs won both games of a softball doubleheader played at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 win in the first game and a 5-2 in the second. The Aggies' frustrations started in the first game as they stranded seven runners.
In the third inning, the Aggies (5-19, 0-2) had runners on second and third with two outs. But S.C. State (6-29, 2-0) shortstop Taylor Anne-Harris made a tough catch on a Dominique Gillard fly ball. The following inning saw the Aggies put two runners on with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat.
Juanita Jernigan opened the seventh for the Aggies with a double off S.C. State starter Raven Johnson. She moved to third on a Morgan Chappell groundball. But Johnson kept the Aggies off the board as she picked up the win. Sophomore Hope Fletcher (4-10) took the loss as she ran into most of her trouble in the second inning.
Against the wind, Shannon Baity hit a home run to left field to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Kelsey Grochow added another run when she doubled down the left field line to drive in Sonya Giles who reached on a walk. Tiffany Macklin and Jernigan led the Aggies with two hits apiece.
The second game was much of the same for the Aggies. Gillard hit a line drive to left field in the fourth inning but had it caught. The Aggies had a runner on third in the fifth, but Detavia Kenan was stranded when Dominique Smith hit a hard line drive that was caught by Bulldog shortstop Anne-Harris.
Trailing 5-0, the Aggies did breakthrough in the sixth as Fletcher led off with a triple. Macklin brought her home on a sacrifice fly to left. Senior Ryanne Hill followed with her 15th career home run as she blasted a Vianney Gomez pitch to center field.
Tranea Jones (1-8) took the loss for the Aggies as S.C. State took advantage of a throwing error in the fifth. Grochow doubled to score Tonya Giles who reached on the error. The Bulldogs took a 4-0 lead as Baity hit a slow groundball to the pitcher's mound. Jones scooped it up, but her throw home was too late as Grochow scored.
Fletcher had two hits in the second game. The two teams play at the LASC Sunday at noon.
