GREENSBORO (February 16, 2017) – North Carolina A&T softball lost their home opener Thursday to Appalachian State 11-3 at Aggie Softball Complex as the Mountaineers jumped out early and scored in the final three innings.

N.C. A&T found it difficult to keep up with Appalachian State's 18 hits, but several Aggies were able to produce offensively.  Nathaly Pacheco and Kimberly Brunson both went 2-for-3 with Brunson grabbing a double in the second.  Raven Gray, Lauren Dunlow and Alyssa Green also had hits in the contest.  Zadasia Waddell pitched a complete game, but allowed 18 hits and seven earned runs in the game to dop to 2-1 in the circle. 

The Mountaineers started the day with four hits and took advantage of an error by Brunson at first to put three on the board. N.C. A&T had a chance to retaliate in the bottom half of the inning as Williams was walked and Jillian Nobles was hit by a pitch. However, a strikeout to Zadia Davis would end the inning.   

The first run for the Aggies came in the fourth inning as Mohagony Headen took advantage of an error at third base to then score on a double to center field by Brunson. With the score still manageable at 5-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, Gray led off with a double to center followed by a single to center from Dunlow to add another run N.C. A&T would score again in the sixth on the three hits. Pacheco led off with a single to left and was replaced by pinch runner Taylor Martin who would advance to second on a passed ball. A single from Brunson pushed Martin to third and a single to left field from Green would score the runner.

By the time the Aggies added their three runs, however, the Mountaineers were leading 8-3 at the end of the sixth.  Appalachian State would score three more in the top of the seventh, starting with a lead off home run from Cara Parker. 

N.C. A&T (3-3) will host the Aggie Invitational over the weekend, starting with a doubleheader tomorrow against Valparaiso (12:30 p.m.) and Howard (2:30 p.m.).