Softball | 4/17/2025 1:59:00 PM
GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T softball team, in conjunction with the North Carolina A&T State University Department of Athletics, will honor A&T's 1979 softball team on Saturday, April 19, before the Aggies face the Elon Phoenix in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) action at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex. The first pitch from the circle is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Approximately 20 minutes before the first pitch, a pregame ceremony will honor the 1979 team that won the North Carolina Association for Intercollegiate Athletes for Women (NCAIAW) Division I softball championship. The 1979 championship banner will be unveiled at The Complex, making it the first banner to be revealed in the 20-year history of the facility.
"It's a blessing to be a part of this," said A&T head coach Jose Gonzalez, Jr. "For me to be the head coach at the time it is happening now, it will be a moment I will always remember as a part of my career here at A&T. It is a wonderful thing to recognize a group of ladies who won a significant championship in the history of our program. "
Led by head coach Joyce Spruill, the Aggiettes, as they were called at the time, won 11 of their last 13 games during the 1979 season to finish 21-13. They opened the NCAIAW Division I state playoffs with a win over East Carolina before defeating UNC Greensboro to advance to play the N.C. State Wolfpack in a winner's bracket showdown.
The Pack beat A&T, dropping the Aggiettes to the elimination bracket to face the Appalachian State Mountaineers. A&T beat App State, earning a rematch against the Pack. The match resulted in a 10-4 Aggiettes win, setting a winner-take-all matchup for the championship.
A&T claimed the title with a 7-5 victory.
"We knew we could do it from the very beginning," Spruill told the A&T Register student newspaper at the time. "We may have fooled a lot of people, but winning the state championship came as no big surprise to us."
A&T will hold a reception for the 1979 team after A&T's game against Elon on Saturday in the Moore Gymnasium Lounge on campus.
