COVINGTON, Ga. – North Carolina A&T softball did not have the success on Saturday against its HBCU counterparts that it did on Friday. The Aggies lost two games during the second day of the annual HBCU Softball Invitational played at the Tuner Lake Softball Complex.

A&T lost to the Southern Jaguars of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), 4-1, before losing to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's Howard University Bison 4-2 later in the day. After going 2-0 on Day 1 of the invitational, the Aggies are 2-2 with one game remaining on Sunday against Texas Southern of the SWAC at 10 a.m. The Aggies are 4-7 overall this season.

The Aggies produced only three hits against Southern starter Jordynn Jennings (W, 1-1). However, the Aggies were able to take a 1-0 lead against Jennings in the second inning as A&T junior Jamari Moss remained on a tear with her third home run of the season. Moss led off the second with her 11th career home run.  An Aggies rally persisted even after Moss's homer.

Jennings walked sophomore Ayanna Myers before sophomore Tyra Robinson advanced her to second on a groundout. A Taniyah Thomas ground out moved Mayers to third before Jennings walked junior Trinity Glover to put Aggies at first and third. However, the threat ended on a Katriel Williams strikeout.

The Jaguars responded in their half of the second with a three-run home run from Laila Clark off A&T starter Devin Long (L, 0-2). Southern added its final run of the game on a solo home run from Keira Miracle-Tilford in the home half of the third inning to take a 4-1 lead. Freshman right-handed pitcher Maliyah Alexander replaced Long in the circle and pitched well in relief. She went 4.2 innings, giving up three hits, no walks, and one run while striking out four.

A&T had its opportunities against the Jaguars. The Aggies loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning before a strikeout and a groundout ended the threat. A&T had another chance to score in the sixth inning when Thomas reached third, but a strikeout ended that scoring attempt. Jennings pitched 5.1 innings of scoreless softball while pitching a two-hitter and striking out six.

Against Howard, the Aggies produced only three hits. Junior Aaliyah Williams (L, 2-2) made the start for A&T. She pitched seven innings, giving up six hits, four runs, five walks, and striking out three. Her counterpart, Aiko Conaway (W, 1-1), had five strikeouts over 6.2 innings pitched. Howard took a 3-0 lead over the first six innings of the game.

The Aggies started to make some noise in the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs, however. Junior Shandi Brown battled Conaway for 10 pitches before Conaway walked Brown. Thomas made Conaway pay by hitting a two-run home run to left field to bring the Aggies to within one at 3-2. Conaway got junior Destiny Sims to fly out to end the inning before her teammates added an insurance run with an RBI single by Taylor Ames-Alexander in the seventh inning.

A&T led off the home seventh inning by getting the tying run at the plate when Moss walked to lead off the frame. Two outs later, the Aggies put the go-ahead run at the plate when junior Bria Finley hit a single up the middle. But sophomore Jaden James popped out to end the inning and the game. Cheyenne Castille led the Bison by going 2-for-2 with an RBI.