GREENSBORO, N.C. — Freshman
Jacobia Johnson drove in three runs to lead the North Carolina Central University softball team to a 6-3 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Southern Division win over host North Carolina A&T State University Sunday afternoon.
Junior transfer
Claire Eosso tallied her first win at NCCU and senior
Lauren Sitterson recorded a save as the Lady Eagles completed the sweep of their rivals.
NCCU (17-24 Overall, 8-7 MEAC) posted its first winning league record since joining the MEAC in 2011-12. The Lady Eagles tied for third place in the Southern Division, but will be the fourth seed in the 2018 MEAC Softball Championship Tournament (Savannah State has the head-to-head tiebreaker) hosted by Bethune-Cookman at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex. NCCU will return to postseason play for the second straight year and will play Morgan State University in the first round on Wednesday, May 9 at Noon. The conference office will announce full tournament seeding and schedule this coming week.
A four-run second inning catapulted the Lady Eagles into the lead. The scoring outburst started with a walk by senior
Fallon Roberson and a double by freshman
Kyria Locklear. Roberson scored on an error before Locklear scored the next run on a groundout by freshman
Kelsey Ray. Eosso helped her own cause and doubled up the NCCU advantage with a two-run single to cap the rally.
The Aggies were held scoreless for the first four innings by Eosso before pulling within one, 4-3, with three runs in the fifth. The comeback attempt featured an RBI-single by senior Nathaly Pacheco and a two-run single by junior Zadaisha Waddell. However, Eosso ended the threat with one of her 10 groundball outs.
A single by freshman
Jacobia Johnson provided a quick response by the Lady Eagles in the top of the sixth as two runners scored on the play to regain more comfortable advantage for Sitterson's save opportunity.
Eosso (1-7) went five innings and totaled two strikeouts in her first win in a maroon and gray uniform. Sitterson tossed two scoreless innings of relief for her save.
NCCU was outhit 10-7 by the North Carolina A&T, but five of the seven hits were in the two scoring frames. Johnson, Eosso and Locklear all tallied two base knocks.
