GREENSBORO—North Carolina A&T showed no quit even though it faced a big deficit against the Delaware Blue Hens in Coastal Athletic Association softball play Sunday afternoon at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex. But despite their best efforts, the Aggies could not extend the game beyond the fifth inning and lost to the Blue Hens 15-7 in five innings.
A&T dropped to 6-18 overall and 0-6 in the CAA. Delaware is 16-7 and 5-1 in league play. Junior Joey Barkhimer posted a career-high five RBIs to go along with a 2-for-3 day, including her scoring a run. Graduate Brenay Howard and senior Alyxx Estrada each had RBIs, and Estrada scored twice.
The Blue Hens countered the Aggies' offensive efforts with some exploits of their own. First baseman Gianna Costaro had six RBI, a double, and a home run, and Julz Garber went 4-for-4 and scored thrice. The teams traded runs in the first inning, as A&T starter Sharla Kirkpatrick (L, 2-8) forced in a run by walking Julia Boyet with the bases loaded.
The Aggies started to have an answer for Delaware's first-inning run when Estrada singled to left field and stole second with one out. Estrada eventually moved to third to set up Barkhimer's RBI single to left to tie the game at 1-1. Delaware chased Kirkpatrick from the game in the third inning after Maddie Fife hit an RBI double to center to give the Blue Hens a 5-1 lead.
Barkhimer replaced her in the circle and got the Aggies out of the inning by striking out Jenna Giattino. Unfortunately, the Blue Hens were not finished scoring runs. They added three more runs in the fourth, thanks partly to a two-run double by Costaro. Delaware then exploded for seven runs in the visitor's fifth. Delaware's fifth included a grand slam from Costaro and a two-run homer from Ellie Mulligan.
Delaware's big inning gave the Blue Hens a 15-1 lead going into the fifth. As a result, the Aggies needed to score seven runs to prevent the game from ending early because of the collegiate run rule that ends the game after five if a team is trailing by eight or more runs.
A&T went to work against Delaware starter Emily Winburn (W, 10-2). Sophomore Katriel Willimas and senior Kayla Taylor opened the frame with singles. Sophomore Camryn Caldwell loaded the bases with another single. Estrada then hit a groundball to third, eliminating Caldwell from the base paths on a force out at second. But Williams did score to give the Aggies their second run.
Taylor moved to third on the play, leading to Howard bringing her home on an infield single to make it a 15-3 game. Freshman Avery Evans also earned an infield single to reload the bases for Barhimer, who promptly blasted a grand slam home run to bring the Aggies to within one run of extending the game beyond the fifth inning, cutting the Blue Hens lead to 15-7.
With the Aggies rallying, Delaware turned to Kendall Shank in the circle. Shank got sophomore Makayla Layton and freshman Destiny Sims to pop out to end the game. The Aggies will return to action this week with a three-game CAA series at Drexel, March 22-24.
