Softball | 2/17/2023 9:16:00 AM

NORTH CAROLINA A&T AGGIES STORYLINES 

• The North Carolina A&T softball returns to action after getting off to a 1-2 star at the Elon Softball Classic played at Elon's Hunt Softball Park. 
• The Aggies will now play in the second of four preseason tournaments away from home as they begin play in the Winthrop Eagle Classic hosted by Winthrop University at Terry Field in Rock Hill, SC.
• The Aggies will open the tournament Friday against the Marist Red Foxes at 3 p.m. It will be the Red Foxes' season opener after they went 25-30 overall and 11-9 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). 
• Later in the day, the Aggies will face the Nevada Wolfpack, who enters the tournament after winning four of five games at the Cal Poly Tournament in San Luis, Calif.
• A&T gets an additional two games on Saturday when they open the day with a 12:30 p.m. game against Queens University of Charlotte. The Royals are 2-1 after splitting with Appalachian State last week and beating Winthrop to open the Winthrop Eagle Classic. 
• At 5 p.m. on Saturday, the Aggies will play host Winthrop. The Eagles are 4-1 after losing their first game of the season to Queens. A&T lost its season opener to Winthrop 5-0 on Feb. 10. 
• A&T and Queens will play again on Sunday to close out the tournament. The first pitch is at 11:30 a.m. 
• During the first week of the season, the Aggies established themselves as a team willing to run and put pressure on the defense. The Aggies attempted 13 stolen bases in three games. They were successful seven times, with junior Alyxx Estrada and freshman Makayla Layton leading the way with two stolen bases apiece. 
• In no surprise, Dezianna Patmon got off to a fast start in her sophomore campaign. She went 5-for-9 (.556) over the weekend with a run scored, a double and a home run. 
• She also totaled nine bases and recorded a 1.000 slugging percentage and a 1.636 on-base percentage. Patmon hit her eighth career home run in the Aggies 10-8 win over archrival North Carolina Central. 
• Freshman Katriel Williams also had an impressive opening weekend. She went 4-for-11 (.364) with a double and a run scored. In the circle, sophomore Amaya Kearse won against Central, pitching 1.2 scoreless innings and striking out two. She also pitched 4.0 innings against Morgan State, surrendering only one and striking out three. She comes into the weekend with a 1.59 ERA. 
• After missing most of last season, senior Jai Deese also had a nice weekend, going 4-for-10 (.400) with a double. 
• Interim head coach Diego Ibarra leads the Aggies. Ibarra is in his first season with the Aggies after taking over Patti Raduenz, who resigned during the offseason. 
• After spending five years at Hofstra and one at UNC Wilmington, Ibarra has tons of experience within the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).