ELON, N.C. – Junior transfers Ivory Jones and Morgan Green combined for nine hits in their first day of competition for the North Carolina Central University softball team, but the Eagles suffered a couple of close loses to begin the 2023 regular season at the Elon University Softball Classic on Friday.
 
NCCU was edged 8-7 by the host Phoenix before falling 10-8 in extra innings to North Carolina A&T State University in the nightcap at Hunt Softball Park.
 
Green led the Eagles with five hits while adding two RBI and two stolen bases. Jones reached base seven times on the day with four hits, two walks and one hit by pitch while producing seven RBI. Green and Jones both scored three times.
 
NC Central (0-2 Overall) is currently scheduled to next play at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 5 p.m.
 
GAME ONE: Elon 8, NC Central 7
 
The Phoenix scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to rally from a 7-3 deficit and squeak out a one-run victory over the Eagles. The late comeback featured six hits, including a home run and a triple in the decisive frame.
 
Jones helped NCCU construct its lead with a grand slam that capped capped a six-run top of the fourth inning. Her first home run representing the maroon and gray was launched over the left field fence.
 
Freshman Makiya Graves swiped a pair of stolen bases and she scored twice in her first collegiate game. Green matched Jones with two hits apiece as both teams finished with nine hits.
 
Elon (1-1) held an early 3-1 lead before the Eagles erupted for their six-run fourth inning. Sophomore Chloe Hatzopoulos hit a solo home run to highlight the early scoring for the Phoenix while a three-run homer off the bat of freshman pinch hitter Mauri Murray was the catalyst in the late rally in the sixth inning.
 
GAME TWO: N.C. A&T 10, NC Central 8
 
NCCU scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings, but the Aggies scored two runs of their own in the top of the eighth to secure the narrow triumph.
 
The high scoring affair featured 18 total runs on 26 combined hits. Green led the Eagles with three hits atop the lineup while Graves, Jones, junior Jayla Barr and sophomore Jaden Davis all had two hits apiece for the maroon and gray.
 
A two-run home run by Barr in the first inning and a two-run double off the bat of Jones aided in the Eagles flying out to a 5-3 lead after three innings of play. Barr drove in her third run of the contest by a drawing a bases loaded walk in the fourth, which provided NCCU with its last lead at 6-5.
 
The Aggies scored two runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth to pull ahead 8-6 before the Eagles knotted the score while down to their last at bats. Green, who had three singles in the contest, knocked in the first run before Jones drew her own bases-loaded walk to level the score. Jones matched Barr with three RBI.
 
A go-ahead, solo home run by sophomore Dezianna Patmon proved to be the clinching hit for N.C. A&T in the top of the eighth before classmate Amaya Kearse held NCCU without a hit in the bottom of the eighth for the win in the pitcher's circle.
 
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