GREENSBORO – Why not add a little flair to North Carolina A&T's first Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) softball win? Sophomore Trinity Glover took her bat and answered with a "Why not?"
Glover took the first pitch she saw from Towson reliever Candence Williams (L, 2-4) and parked it over the left-field fence for a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to lead the Aggies to an 8-6 win at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex on Saturday afternoon.
"I saw it coming right down the middle with my teammate in scoring position, and I wanted to score her and have my team's back," said Glover. "It feels great to get our first win. We've wanted this the whole season and have really been trying hard to find a way to piece it together. We pieced it together today."
Glover's home run improved the Aggies to 8-24 overall and 1-10 in the CAA. She has a team-leading five homers this season. Towson, whose rally from a 5-1 deficit fell short, dropped to 15-16 overall and 5-6 in league play.
The Aggies took their 5-1 lead partly on the power of sophomore Jamari Moss' bat.
Sophomore Destiny Sims led off the second with a single before Moss' one-out single moved Sims to third. Glover responded with an RBI single to right to score Sims for a 2-1 A&T lead. After freshman Tyra Robinson recorded the inning's second out, an infield hit by sophomore Aaliyah Williams loaded the bases for junior Katriel Williams.
Candence Williams walked Katriel Williams to force in a run from third to give the Aggies a two-run lead before Candence Williams ended the inning with a strikeout.
A Jaden James double put the Aggies in position to score again in the third inning, putting runners on second and third with one out. The Tigers removed starter Olivia Trombley from the circle, replacing her with Candence Williams. Moss greeted her with a bloop single to right, scoring Sims and James for a 5-1 Aggies lead.
Towson roared back in the visitor's fifth inning against A&T senior starter Joey Barkhimer. Isabella Canesi's two-run single and Madyson Peters' two-run home run tied the game 5-5. After the Peters homer, the Aggies replaced Barkhimer in the circle with freshman Lauren Hardy (W, 3-2).
Hardy got Alyssa Myint to fly out to end the top of the fifth before the Aggies offense heated up again in the bottom half of the inning. Sims led the inning off with a triple before a one-out RBI double from Moss gave the Aggies the lead back at 6-5. But the game's back-and-forth continued.
Towson tied the game again for the third time when Kristin Toland recorded an RBI double in the visitor's sixth. The Aggies left two on base in the home sixth. Towson also left two runners on in its half of the seventh, setting up the heroic A&T seventh inning.
That inning started with a James double, leading to Glover's walk-off home run.
The Aggies' 15 hits are the most recorded since earning 16 against NC Central on February 18. Moss went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored, and James had two doubles. Aaliyah Williams also had three hits, and Sims went 2-for-4 with three runs scored.
Towson's Cara Bohner went 3-for-4 with two runs scored. The rubber game of the series is at noon on Sunday at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex.
