BUIES CREEK, N.C. – After dropping its first game, 6-0, to Saint Francis (Pa.) University, the North Carolina Central University softball team ended its first day of competition with a 6-4 comeback victory over a familiar foe in University of Maryland Eastern Shore at the Campbell University Invitational Friday afternoon.
 
Senior Dominique Adams picked up her first win, sophomore Aleyah Evans had hits in both contests, junior Ryann Kostandin provided a pair of RBI-singles and freshman Ava Dolan belted out a team-high three hits, including her first collegiate home run.
 
NCCU (1-1) will play two more games in the Campbell Invite on Saturday against Maryland Eastern Shore at 10 a.m. and the host Camels at 3 p.m.
 
GAME ONE: Saint Francis 6, N.C. Central 0
 
Senior starter Ketarah DeVries and senior reliever Ethel Santai combined to complete a one-hit shutout for the Red Flash. DeVries (1-0) took a no-hitter into the fifth inning for the win and Santai was credited with a save for two innings of flawless relief.
 
Evans collected NCCU's lone hit with two outs in the fifth. She poked a clean single through the right-side of the infield.
 
Dolan made it to scoring position twice for the Lady Eagles after being hit by a pitch in the second and drawing a walk in the fourth, but she was stranded both times.
 
Wilson hurled five innings of quality work in her first start. She was tagged with the loss when Saint Francis scored all three of its runs against her on a three-run triple by sophomore Cheyenne McKee in the first.
 
The Red Flash (1-0) added three insurance runs in the sixth off NCCU senior reliever Jennifer Allison. Junior Jordan Seneca highlighted that surge with a two-run homer to left field.
 
GAME TWO: N.C. Central 6, Maryland Eastern Shore 4
 
The Lady Eagles belted out 11 hits and scored six runs in the final three innings to overcome a 4-nil deficit and get in the win column for the first time for new head coach Vashion Johnson.
 
Johnson, who entered the season with 184 career wins from his tenure at Slippery Rock University, collected his first DI coaching win with the triumph.
 
Junior starter Lauren Sitterson kept the Hawks off the board for her first three innings in a maroon and gray uniform, but the Hawks were able to break through with four runs in the fourth. MDES's scoring included a run-producing double off the bat of sophomore Daeshia Jones and a two-run triple by classmate Mackenzie Brown.
 
NCCU wasted no time to respond, leveling the score with four runs off five hits in the top of the fifth. The Lady Eagles scoring started on a delayed double steal by Evans and junior Danyelle Noland. Kostandin tacked on the next run with a single down the right-field line, before scoring on a double by senior Kim Mobley. Dolan knocked Mobley in for the equalizing score with a base knock down the left-field line.
 
Sophomore Miriam Duen had a pair of hits and she started NCCU's go-ahead rally in the sixth with a hustle double to center. She eventually scored on an infield single by Kostandin.
 
Dolan crushed a one-out offering over the wall in left-center in the seventh, her third base hit of the contest. Her insurance run was her first collegiate home run as she matched Kostandin with two RBI.
 
Wilson (1-1) took over in the pitcher's circle with two on and one out in the fifth. She fanned a pair of Hawks to end that threat and then finished the game with two more innings of scoreless relief to receive the win. Wilson notched four K's in the contest and seven on the day in 7 2/3 totals innings of work.