GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T softball received some confidence boosters this week, culminating in its 19-1 win in five innings over the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Wednesday afternoon at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex.
A&T's win on Wednesday follows its 10-1 win in five innings on Tuesday against UMES, improving the Aggies' record to 7-20. The Aggies collected 29 runs, 22 hits, 10 extra-base hits and 29 RBIs over the past two days. A&T also benefited from 10 walks on Wednesday.
The Aggies hope to carry that momentum into a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) weekend series at UNC Wilmington. The first game is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. Freshman Jaden James had a gigantic afternoon. She posted three hits, including a double and a home run, scored four times and drove in five runs. Sophomore Trinity Glover drove in three runs and scored twice, and junior Katriel Williams went 2-for-2 with two RBIs.
In the circle, freshman Lauren Hardy (W, 2-2) had nine strikeouts over innings, surrendering one run on six hits. As she normally does, she also helped herself at the plate by going 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
A&T opened Tuesday's game with a seven-run first inning. The Aggies opened Wednesday's game with a six-run first.
The scoring parade started with Katriel Williams' RBI triple, which scored Aaliyah Williams, who walked to open the first. Senior Joey Barkhimer brought Katriel Williams home with a single. Hardy followed with a single and advanced to second on a throw to throw out Barkhimer at third, but Barkhimer reached safely. After a pop-out, a fielding error scored Barkhimer to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead.
Freshman Ayanna Mears kept the rally going to put Aggies at every base with a walk before Glover brought all of them home with a base-clearing three-run RBI double to complete the Aggies' six-run inning off UMES starter Kassidy Oneail (L, 2-8).
A&T went scoreless in its second, but the A&T's third saw the Aggies put together 10 runs on five hits and five walks. In addition, two Aggies were hit by pitches to contribute to the big inning. James and freshman Aliyah Lassiter had two-run RBI doubles in the inning as the Aggies emerged from the inning with a 16-0 lead.
Paige Perkin helped the Hawks avoid the shutout with an RBI single to right center, but the Aggies offense kept firing. James hit her second home run of the season with a three-run shot in the home fourth inning. The Hawks went down in order in the fifth inning, ending the game early because of softball's run rule that ends games if a team is ahead by eight or more after 4 ½ innings.
Mears added a 2-for-2 afternoon, scoring three times and producing an RBI.
