BUIES CREEK, NC – Junior Devin Long (L, 3-9) pitched brilliantly for the North Carolina A&T softball team, but the Campbell Fighting Camels squeezed out a couple of runs to defeat the Aggies 2-0 in the first game of a three-game Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) series on Friday at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium.

Long pitched 6.0 innings, giving up two runs on two hits with three walks and two strikeouts. But the Aggies still dropped to 16-24 overall and 3-10 in the CAA. Long's counterpart, Campbell pitcher Katelyn Hubley (W, 11-2), pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout that included 10 strikeouts. That helped the Camels improve to 21-15 overall and 8-2 in league play.

The Aggies' best chance against Hubley came in the visitors' third inning. Senior Katriel Williams opened the frame with a single before a pop-up and a strikeout, posting two outs in the inning. Junior Shandi Brown kept the inning alive with a single before junior Destiny Sims flew out to center field to end the threat. Meanwhile, Long retired the first seven batters she faced before hitting Livie Davis with a 2-1 pitch in the home third inning. Long got back on track by striking Haley Krebs before Davis stole second base.

That led to Kylie Specht's RBI single to left to give the Camels a 1-0 lead. Amber DeSena singled in the third before Long got Charlie Montgomery to ground out. Long then retired the Camels in order in the fourth before trouble in the fifth after walking Grace Kealy to start the frame.

An error put runners on first and second for Campbell before Krebs' sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position. But Specht hit a groundball to Long. She scooped the grounder and threw it home to throw out Kealey at the plate to keep the Aggies' deficit at only one run. Campbell broke through again in the sixth inning.

A walk DeSena led to a stolen base by DeSena. With one out in the inning, Campbell's Allyiah Swiney hit a foul ball on the first base side. DeSena scored from second to give the Camels more of a cushion. Madison Ford also walked and moved to second on a wild pitch before Long came through again by getting Hannah Cornetto to ground out to the circle to end the Campbell threat. In the Aggies' last at-bat, sophomore Jaden James reached on an error with two outs, but an A&T groundout ended the game.

The teams will play a noon doubleheader Saturday at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium to complete the series.