GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T freshman pitcher Lauren Hardy (W, 4-3) had the best outing of her young career, and sophomore Destiny Sims provided the offense as the Aggies softball team won the second game of a Wednesday non-conference doubleheader against Presbyterian 5-1 at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex. A&T lost the first game 6-3.
Hardy pitched a complete-game four-hitter and did not give up an earned run. She posted four strikeouts and walked only one. Sims went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
A game-opening error by the Aggies led to the Blue Hose's only run of the game. The Aggies quickly responded against Presbyterian starter Grace Kelley (L, 4-3). Kelley walked freshman Jaden James with one out. Sophomore Destiny Sims brought her home with a deep fly ball to center field that hit off the fence for an RBI triple. After a pop-out, sophomore Trinity Glover scored Sims with an RBI double to give the Aggies a 2-1 lead.
A&T grew its lead as junior Camryn Caldwell doubled in the second with one out. Freshman Avrelle Harrell followed with an RBI double to score Caldwell, giving the Aggies a 3-1 advantage. Harrell's double led to Kelley's departure. Kasey Wolfe replaced her in the circle and opened her outing by walking Katriel Williams and giving up a single to James to load the bases for Sims.
Sims hit into a force play that allowed Presbyterian shortstop Bayleigh Arnette to throw out Harrell, who was trying to score. The inning ended when Wolfe struck out freshman Ayanna Mears.
Hardy kept the Aggies in the lead by pitching her way out of a third-inning jam. She gave up a single in the fourth to Blair Darby and then retired the next 11 batters she faced to end the game. In the meantime, she helped herself offensively by providing a two-run RBI double in the fifth inning, scoring Mears and Sims to give the Aggies a 5-1 advantage.
Glover aided the Aggies offensively in Game 2 by going 2-for-3. Glover also went 2-for-3 in Game 1 and scored a run for the Aggies. Peyton Duncan (W, 3-4) led the Blue Hose from the circle, pitching a complete-game three-hitter, where she gave up two earned runs and posted 10 strikeouts against the Aggies.
Senior Joey Barkhimer (L, 4-13) had a few strikeouts of her own in Game 1. She posted eight strikeouts over 5.1 innings pitched. She gave up three earned runs and walked seven.
Presbyterian took a 2-0 lead in the first behind a two-run double to left field by Morgan Farthing. That was followed by a fourth-inning RBI single from Blue Hose center fielder Grace Decuir to give Presbyterian a 3-0 lead. Maddi Wood added to the lead with a solo homer in the sixth and Mallory Fletcher blasted a two-run homer in the sixth to put the Aggies down 6-0 going into the home seventh.
The Aggies made a rally in their seventh. Sophomore Avery Evans walked to open the frame before Glover singled. Harrell came into the game as a pinch-hitter and reached on an error that allowed Evans to score A&T's first run. Another error allowed Glover to score, cutting the Blue Hose's lead to 6-2.
A strikeout and a flyout put the Blue Hose on the brink of victory, but a fielding error kept the game going as Harrell scored to get to within three runs of the Blue Hose. However, sophomore Jamari Moss fouled out to end the contest.
The Aggies return to action Friday when they start a three-game Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) series against Elon from the Lady Aggies Softball Complex at 2 p.m.
