SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Freshman pitcher
Jaden Davis tossed a complete game and hit the go-ahead home run to lead the North Carolina Central University softball team to its first win of the season, knocking off Towson University 2-1 to begin the second day of the Spartan Classic hosted by USC Upstate.
The Eagles dropped their tourney finale, 11-5, to University of Massachusetts despite Davis driving in another run, sophomore
Jaylah Barr hitting her first home run of the season and freshman
Jaidyn Hamby driving producing two RBI. NCCU finished the opening weekend with a 1-3 record.
NC Central will next play four games at the PC Invitational on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 18-19, in Clinton, South Carolina, starting with a doubleheader against host Presbyterian College on Friday that begins at 12:15 p.m.
GAME ONE: NC Central 2, Towson 1
Davis provided the Eagles with another strong performance inside the pitcher's circle and she supplied the big hit that lifted NCCU to its first win of the season.
With the score tied at 1-1, Davis put the maroon and gray ahead for good with her first collegiate home run. Davis drilled her solo shot over the left field fence with two outs in the top of the fifth.
Davis (1-1) tossed her second complete game in as many days and did not allow a run after giving up a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning to preserve the victory. Davis fanned six Tigers.
The Eagles grabbed a quick 1-nil advantage in the top of the first as junior
Diamond Porter was hit by a pitch to start the contest. Porter then scored two batters later on a double by Hamby.
Senior centerfielder Nicole Kidwiler knotted the score with her homer to right-center to begin the home half of the first. Kidwiler added two more singles to account for three of Towson's (0-1) five hits.
Kidwiler stole second base both times to get into scoring position, but she was stranded in the third and fifth innings as Davis ended both frames with a strikeout.
The Eagles were limited to four hits by fifth-year senior Melissa Abrahamian with senior
Madison Mifsud and sophomore
Natalie Hardin accounting for NCCU's other two hits. Abrahamian (0-1) took the loss despite her quality complete game with seven strikeouts.
AME TWO: UMass 11, NC Central 5
The Minutewomen jumped out to leads of 8-0 and 10-1, but the Eagles scored runs in each of their last three innings to avoid being stopped by the run rule in the six-run loss.
UMass (2-1) scored its 11 runs on 12 hits and five walks. Sophomore outfielder Payge Suggs led the victors with four hits, three RBI and two runs scored. Suggs drove in the first run just two batters into the contest with a triple and the Minutewomen never trailed.
After an unearned run in the fifth kept the Eagles going, Barr launched her first home run of the season in the sixth. Her two-run shot was her second of her collegiate career.
Hamby followed with a two-run single in the seventh to complete NCCU's scoring. Hamby finished the four-game tournament with team-best totals of five hits and five RBI.
Porter matched Hamby with two hits as they combined for four of NCCU's seven hits.
