GREENSBORO (March 25, 2016) -- North Carolina A&T's softball team opened their three-game series against MEAC rival South Carolina State with a doubleheader split at Lady Aggies Softball Complex on Friday as the Bulldogs took the first game 8-5 while the Aggies took Game 2, 10-1 in five innings.
N.C. A&T never trailed in the quickly played second game thanks to a dominating fourth inning in which the Aggies scored nine runs, the most runs in an inning they've scored all season. N.C. A&T's first run came in the third, when Alejandra Barcenas' sacrifice fly to left field scored Jillian Nobles from third for a 1-0 lead. The Aggies offense then kicked into high gear in the fourth as Raven Gray's lead-off triple to right led to an RBI single from Zadaisha Waddell RBI single. Janika May followed with an RBI triple to left center. She eventually scored to give the Aggies a 4-0 lead when Bulldogs first baseman Charmaine Oden made a wild throw to third trying to double off May after a Kimberly Brunson groundout to first.
The inning continued when Mohagony Headen reached on an error and sprinted to third on a Jillian Nobles double. After Talisha Jenkins was hit by a pitch, Barcenas was walked to force home Headen. Lorrin Turner continued her strong performance on the day with a two-run RBI double to right field to put the Aggies ahead 7-0. A follow up single by Gray scored two more Aggies. The final run of the inning came off a single to right field by Brunson, scoring Gray.
Mohagony (4-2) picked up the win after giving up one run (unearned) and striking out five over five innings. Unique Whitehurst (1-3) took the loss as all 10 runs charged to her were earned.
In Game 1, the Bulldogs jumped ahead in the first when Jada Richardson hit a leadoff single off May, the Aggies starting pitcher Janika May. Two batters later, catcher Cianna Burt homered to left field to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.
N.C. A&T took over the lead in the third, getting their first three batters on base. A Headen RBI single to left coupled with an error by Jasmine Greer allowed Raven Gray, Alejandra Barcenas, and Talisha Jenkins to cross home. The Aggies scored again in the fifth to tie the game at 4 as Noble's hit a groundball to shortstop Whitehurst with the bases loaded. Whitehurst forced out May going to second, but the throw was too late to get Nobles going to first, allowing pinch runner Shi-Anne Campbell to score.
The Aggies and Bulldogs were tied going into the sixth, but a high-scoring inning gave S.C. State the final lead of the game. May had a difficult start to the inning, walking three runners to load the bases for the Bulldogs. A three-run RBI triple by Whitehurst and a score on a passed ball gave S.C. State four runs in the inning.
May took the loss (5-5) for the Aggies despite striking out nine. Keirra Comer (3-7) got the win. Headen led the Aggies in Game 1 by going 2-for-4 with two RBI. Turner also had two hits in the first game. Turner, Barcenas and Gray had two RBI apiece in Game 2.
The series continues Saturday at noon at LASC.
