DURHAM, N.C. — The North Carolina Central University softball team will play its first mid-week game of the season when the Eagles meet their former conference rivals in a non-conference game. NCCU will make the short trip over to Greensboro to play North Carolina A&T State University in a single game on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.
Fans are encouraged to check
NCCUEaglePride.com or the NCCU Eagles Athletics app for updates as the schedule is subject to change.
GAME INFO:
DATE: Tuesday, March 1 at 2:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Aggie Softball Complex, Greensboro, N.C.
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NC CENTRAL DUGOUT:
The Eagles went 0-5 in a three-day tournament hosted by UNC Wilmington over the weekend, losing three times to Canisius College and twice to the host Seahawks. NC Central (2-11 Overall) was selected fourth out of eight teams in the MEAC Preseason Predicted Order of Finish Poll and has only played road/neutral site games so far this campaign.
Freshman left fielder
Jaidyn Hamby is the only Eagle batting over .300 on the season. Hamby has a .333 batting average with team-best totals of seven RBI, five runs scored and two doubles. She hit safely in three of NCCU's five games last week.
Sophomore shortstop
Jaylah Barr (.179) and junior third baseman
Maegan Garrison (.111) lead the maroon and gray with two home runs apiece. Barr has six total RBI while Garrison has four. Senior catcher
Madison Mifsud (.207) and sophomore utility
Hailey Batista (.179) join Barr and Garrison as Preseason All-MEAC selections. Freshman pitcher/infielder
Jaden Davis (.182) and junior outfielder
Diamond Porter (.147) are two other players that have started every game for the Eagles.
Davis leads NCCU's pitching staff, accounting for both wins on the season. Davis tops the Eagles with a 2-3 record, 5.75 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 35.1 innings pitched.
Last season, NCCU played the Aggies four times and the Eagles went 3-1 in those contests. NC Central defeated N.C. A&T, 6-3, in an elimination game of the 2021 MEAC Softball Championship tournament in the last meeting between the Eagles and the Aggies in May.
N.C. A&T DUGOUT:
The Aggies, who just joined the Big South Conference this season, went 1-1 in a rain-shorted Chanticleer Showdown last weekend after defeating Dartmouth College in eight innings on Friday and losing to University of Maryland on Saturday. North Carolina A&T (7-6 Overall) have already played 10 home games and are 6-4 at the Aggie Softball Complex.
Freshman third baseman Dezianna Patmon has jumped in the N.C. A&T lineup and made a big impact with a .367 batting average, eight runs, five RBI and two home runs. The sophomore duo of outfielder Kendall Macauley (.407) and shortstop Alyxx Estrada (.233) were both Second Team All-MEAC selections as rookies last year. Macauley is tied for the team lead in hits (11) and leads the Aggies with eight stolen bases despite missing five games. Estrada has a team-best 13 RBI and she is followed by the freshman pair of catcher Jailyn Tineo (.471, 8 RBI) and utility Icess Tresvik (.270, 7 RBI).
A&T is in the top-50 teams in the nation in stolen bases per game. Fifth-year senior Jazzmaine Hammond (.273) and classmate Eternal Fuller (.275) follow Macauley's eight thefts with four and three stolen bases, respectively.
Freshman Joey Barkhimer (3-0, 3.27 ERA, 21 SO, 30.0 IP) and sophomore S'Nyiah Stinson (2-4, 3.96 ERA, 22 SO, 35.1 IP) have pitched majority of N.C. A&T's innings. Stinson was Third Team All-MEAC last season.
