WILMINGTON (March 10, 2018) – North Carolina A&T softball recovered from a tough first day of the Seahawk Softball Showcase to have a better showing despite two losses. The Aggies lost their first game of the day, 11-5 to Youngstown State after losing to the Penguins on Friday. N.C. A&T's second game of the day was a 2-1 loss to the Sacred Heart Pioneers at Boseman Field. The showcase is hosted by UNC Wilmington.
Junior Mohagony Headen had an excellent pitching performance against the Pioneers. She pitched a complete-game, six-hitter where she struck out two, gave up six hits and did not walk a batter. Her pitching opposite Colleen Walsh pitched a complete-game five-hitter without giving up an earned run. Walsh also had 10 strikeouts to best Headen. Offensively, junior Zadaisha Waddell went 2-for-3.
The Pioneers got off to a good start against Headen. Back-to-back singles opened the contest for the Pioneers. Kelyn Fillmore moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Headen got the second out of the inning by getting Fallon Bevino to line out to second. But Katelyn Christian hit a two-run RBI single to right-center field to give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead.
N.C. A&T got a run back in the third as freshman Azaria Isbell opened the inning by reaching on an error. Junior Zadia Davis grounded out to move Isbell into scoring position. Senior Nathaly Pacheco brought Isbell home with an RBI single to cut Sacred Heart's lead to 2-1. The inning kept going with a Waddell single. Senior Raven Gray moved both runners into scoring position with a groundout. But freshman Hailee Cutts struck out to end the threat.
The Aggies only got one more hit the rest of the game as Walsh set the Aggies down in order in the seventh inning to drop the Aggies to 0-3 in the showcase.
Earlier in the day, the Aggies had a better offensive showing. But the Penguins bested the Aggies nine-hit effort with a 20-hit performance. The Aggies were also hampered by a season-high eight errors.
Gray led the way for the Aggies at the plate by going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Pacheco also had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Waddell drove in two runs.
Five errors and eight hits over the first two innings led to the Penguins taking a 6-0 lead. The Aggies cut that lead in half in the third as they benefited from two Penguin errors. Davis started the two-out rally with a single through the left side. Gray followed with an RBI double to put the Aggies on the board as Davis scored. Pacheco then took advantage of a dropped foul ball by singling to score Gray. An error at first base allowed Pacheco to score to cut the Penguins lead to 6-3.
The Penguins took a 10-3 lead over the next two innings and added a run in the seventh. A two-run RBI double from Waddell closed out N.C. A&T's scoring.
