ORANGEBURG, S.C. (March 26, 2017) – North Carolina A&T softball dropped avoided a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference sweep with a 7-6 win over South Carolina State Sunday at Lady Bulldog Softball Field. The Aggies (8-19-1, 1-2 MEAC) picked up their win over S.C. State led by sophomore Zadashia Waddell at the plate as she went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Waddell started the contest from the circle for N.C. A&T and threw through 5.1 innings, allowing 13 hits before Mohagony Headen stepped in to close out the game.
N.C. A&T took a commanding lead over the first two innings. Scoring kicked off in the first when Jillian Nobles led off the game with a double to left field and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Zadia Davis. A single from Waddell drove in the first run of the game and a two-out triple from Raven Gray scored Waddell. The final run of the first inning came as Nathaly Pacheco singled to left field to score Gray for a 3-0 Aggies advantage. A pitching change from the Bulldogs opened the second inning, but the Bulldogs still ran into trouble when Nobles reached first on an error. Nobles eventually scored on another Bulldogs error. Waddell followed with a double and came home on a single from Kimberly Brunson to add one more run for a 5-0 Aggies lead.
Entering the fourth up 5-2, Waddell recorded a two-out single up the middle and moved to second on a stolen base. Brunson earned her second RBI of the game when she singled to score Waddell to widen the Aggies lead to 6-2. However, two hits and error in the bottom of the inning led to a 6-5 ballgame and the Bulldogs tied the contest through five.
The Aggies responded in the seventh though to secure the victory as Pacheco singled to center and Taylor Martin came in to pinch run. Alexandria Simmons was walked to place runners on first and second and a single to left field from Williams pushed the game-winning run across the plate as Martin scored.
The Aggies will host Elon at Aggie Softball Complex on Wednesday, March 29 at 4:30 p.m., before continuing MEAC play on a trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., for a three-game series against Bethune-Cookman on April 1-2.
