ELON – The North Carolina A&T rallied in the fourth inning and left no doubt in the sixth as they ended a five-game losing streak with a 12-5 win over Fairleigh Dickinson in the Elon Softball Tournament at Hunt Softball Park Saturday afternoon.
The Aggies avenged an earlier loss in the season to Elon by defeating the host Phoenix, 4-1 later in the afternoon. The Aggies are now 6-5 on the season.
Freshman Zadaisha Waddell led the Aggies against FDU by going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI. Fellow freshman Lorrin Turner was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI and senior Janika May was also 2-for-4 with two RBI. Senior Kimberly Brunson also had two RBI. Waddell and Brunson homered.
N.C. A&T trailed 4-2 going into the home half of the fourth against FDU. They still trailed 4-2 with two outs in the inning. But with runners on first and third, Turner singled through the right side to score Lauren Dunlow and Alejandra Barcenas to tie the game at 4. Turner went to third on the throw home and eventually scored on an RBI double by Waddell. Sophomore Raven Gray, the reigning MEAC Player of the Week, who reached base on a hit by pitch went to third.
May scored both Gray and Waddell on a two-run RBI double to give the Aggies a 7-4 lead. The Knights (0-1) got a run back in the fifth on an RBI groundout to second that scored Holly Mercier from third. But the Aggies put the game away in the sixth inning. Waddell started the scoring with another RBI, this time a single down the left field line to score Turner. May followed with a single and advanced to second on a throwing error.
Waddell went to third on the throw and Gray scored to give the Aggies a 9-5 lead. Zadia Davis' bunt single would score Waddell. Brunson then hit an RBI sacrifice fly to right field to score May. Dunlow grounded out to third to close out the scoring for N.C. A&T as Davis scored.
Waddell (2-2) earned the win on the mound by pitching a complete game where she struck out five. Madison Lerma (0-1) took the loss.
Against the Phoenix, Waddell hit her fourth home run of the season by blasting a three-run shot to left to give the Aggies a 4-0 lead. Elon answered in the fifth inning with an RBI single by Erica Serafini to cut A&T's lead to three.
But May, the starter against the Phoenix, retired Kristin Hoover to end the sixth. She then got Ashtyn Foddrell to ground out and struck out Jenna Reilly to open the seventh. Hannah Olson earned an infield single before Alaina Hall grounded out to second to end the game. May improved to 3-2 on the season by striking out three, giving up five hits and surrendering only one run in seven innings.
The Aggies return to action Thursday at 3 p.m., when they face Campbell at the Lady Aggie Softball Complex.
