CARY, N.C. – Sophomore catcher
Hailey Batista launched a three-run, walk-off homer that capped a dramatic rally from a seven-run deficit that lift the North Carolina Central University softball team to 10-8 victory over visiting Western Carolina University in the nightcap of Tuesday's doubleheader at Thomas Brooks Park.
The Catamounts won the first game 10-2 and led 7-nil in the second game before having to settle for the split as WCU departed town at 11-11 overall. The Eagles outscored Western Carolina 10-1 after the midway point of the second game for the comeback win.
NC Central (3-14) will next begin Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play when the Eagles host South Carolina State University in a three-game weekend series at Thomas Brooks Park on Saturday-Sunday, March 19-20.
GAME ONE: Western Carolina 10, NC Central 2 (5 Innings)
The Catamounts scored in four of their first five innings, including four runs in both the second and fifth innings to pull away for the run-rule victory.
Western Carolina collected 11 hits in the triumph, including two-hit performances off the bats of junior Bailey Huneycutt and junior Brooklynn Brewington. Huneycutt broke open the game with a three-run homer in the second inning. Senior Myra Twitty matched Huneycutt with three RBI, including her team-leading fifth home run down the right-field line in the fifth.
Senior
Madison Webb scored NCCU's first run, drawing a leadoff walk in the third and eventually scoring on an RBI-groundout by freshman
Jai'lyn Edwards.
Sophomore
Jaylah Barr capped the maroon and gray scoring with a solo home run to start the fourth inning. Barr's blast to left field was her team-high third long ball of the season.
Freshman
Jaden Davis accounted for two of NCCU's five hits.
GAME TWO: NC Central 10, Western Carolina 8
Senior
Madison Mifsud and junior
Maegan Garrison started NCCU's rally from a 7-0 deficit with seven combined RBI before Batista crushed her game-winning, three-run homer over the center field fence with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
Western Carolina scored in three consecutive innings, including back-to-back three-run frames in the second and third frames. Freshman Mattie Mental highlighted that early scoring surge with a three-run homer in the third, which was her first collegiate home run.
After being held without a hit over the first three innings, NCCU batted around in the fourth inning and scored five runs to close the gap to 7-5. Mifsud put the Eagles on the board with a two-run single and then Garrison supplied a bases-clearing, three-run double into the right field gap.
The Catamounts added one last run in the top of the sixth before Garrison answered with another clutch hit in the home half of the frame. Garrison drove in two more runs with another double to right field that inched the Eagles to within one run, 8-7.
Garrison's five-RBI performance is most runs batted in by any NCCU player this season, surpassing the four RBI Garrison tallied on two home runs in a game against Canisius College in February.
Davis, who broke up the WCU no-hit bid by leading off the fourth with a double, started the seventh with a single for her fourth hit of the day. The Catamounts then committed a fielding error on a potential double play ball to bring Batista to the plate with one out and two runners on base. Batista took advantage of the opportunity by smashing a 1-0 offering just over the fence for her second home run of the season that sent NCCU's fans home happy in the home opener.
Batista and Garrison joined Davis with two hits apiece in the contest.
Freshman Ashanti Edwards was credited with her first collegiate win after pitching a scoreless seventh inning for the Eagles, including one strikeout.
