CHARLESTON, SC – North Carolina A&T opened a three-game Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) softball series against the College of Charleston Cougars with a 6-0 loss on Friday at Patriots Point.

The Aggies are 13-21 overall and 0-7 in league play. Sophomore Ayanna Mears led the Aggies by going 2-for-3. Charleston improved to 15-16 overall and 6-1 in the CAA, led by Austy Miller and Sierra Paradis, who had two hits apiece. Paradis also drove in two runs. Junior Devin Long (L, 3-7) got the start for the Aggies and went six innings, walking eight and striking out three. Charleston starter Mackenzie Mathis (W, 8-5) pitched a complete-game four-hitter, striking out 10.

Charleston scored a run against Long in the first inning thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly from Leela Langston. The Cougars added three more runs in the second with Paradis providing a two-run RBI double as the catalyst. A bases-loaded walk to Halle Cannon added the other run before Long struck out Miller to end the frame. Long ran into some trouble in the home third with two outs.

The trouble started with a Paradis double, followed by walks to Audri Bates and Brownyn Conroy that loaded the bases. However, Julia Sitterding lined Long's 2-2 pitch down the left field line, and junior Destiny Sims made the catch to end the inning, sending the game into the fourth. In the next frame, Long once again led the way in keeping Charleston off the scoreboard before the Aggies mounted their biggest threat of the game in the visitors' fifth.

Sophomore Tyra Robinson got things going with a one-out single before Mears followed with another single, putting Aggies on first and second. But junior Trinity Glover popped out and Katriel Williams struck out to end A&T's threat. Conroy and Sitterding each drove in a run for the Cougars in their half of the fifth, giving them a six-run lead.

In the sixth, Mathis retired the Aggies in order before sophomore Jaden James led off with a single in the seventh. Despite this spark, A&T went down in order from there, clinching the win for the Cougars. Looking ahead, the two teams will play the second game of the series on Saturday from Patriots Point, with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.