ROCK HILL, S.C. – In less than 24 hours at the Winthrop Eagle Classic, the North Carolina A&T softball team made vast improvements from its first day of the tournament. Like Friday, the Aggies lost to the University of North Carolina and Winthrop on Saturday.
However, the Aggies hit two home runs against UNC in a 13-3 loss in six innings after being no-hit by the Tar Heels on Friday. The Aggies then lost 2-1 to Winthrop on a walk-off single after the Eagles defeated the Aggies 7-1 on Friday.
A&T's starting pitcher against the Eagles, junior Amaya Kearse, also had a stronger showing on Saturday. After giving up three earned runs over 2.2 innings against the Tar Heels on Friday, Kearse did not surrender an earned run to the Eagles in 4.2 innings pitched. In addition, Kearse gave up three hits, walked five and struck out one.
The only run the Aggies gave up with Kearse in the circle came in the home first inning. Peyton Rivas reached on an infield single and stole second before advancing to third on a groundout.
Kearse walked KeDedra Temple to put Eagles on first and third. Grayson Buckner then hit a sharp line drive to Makayla Layton at shortstop. Layton made the play, but her throwing error trying to double off the runner led to Rivas scoring and a 1-0 Winthrop lead.
Winthrop starter Megan Powell (W, 1-1) and Kearse put on a solid display of pitching before the Aggies finally broke through in the visitor's sixth. Freshman Shandi Brown led off with an infield single before Alyxx Estrada laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Brown to third.
That allowed a passed ball to score Brown from third to tie the game 1-1. After a walk to Brenay Howard, Joey Barkhimer popped out to end the sixth.
A&T turned to graduate pitcher Kayla Douglas (L, 0-2) to take over in the circle in the sixth. Douglas gave up a one-out double to Emma Jackson, placing the go-ahead run on second. But Douglas struck out Aspen King and got Kaylyn Little to line out to end the threat.
The Aggies went down in order in the seventh, leading to Rivas hitting a one-out double in the seventh off Douglas. Ashton VanHouse followed with her game-winning walk-off single as the Aggies dropped to 0-4 on the season.
Brown led the Aggies by going 2-for-3 with a run scored against the Eagles. Barkhimer also had a 2-for-3 evening. Against UNC, Barkhimer hit a solo home run for her first home run of the season and the third of her career. Howard hit her first home run in an Aggies uniform, blasting a two-run shot in the fourth. It was Howard's 10th career home run.
Douglas (L, 0-1) pitched 3 1/3 innings, striking out one. Nikki Harris (W, 1-0) went 3 2/3 innings, giving up three hits and striking out five. The Aggies will compete in the HBCU Collegiate Softball Invitational in Conway, Ga., Feb. 16-18. The Aggies will open against Grambling at 2 p.m. on Friday.
