ROCK HILL, S.C. – Junior
Ivory Jones hit three home runs and drove in four runs for the North Carolina Central University softball team, but both Long Island University (LIU) and Winthrop University were able to rally for walk-off wins in Friday's action at the Winthrop Garnet & Gold Tournament.
NCCU scored all seven of its runs on five total home runs. However, errors in the seventh inning of both contests allowed the other teams to rally as the LIU Sharks won the opener 4-3 and the host Winthrop Eagles edged the NCCU Eagles 5-4 in Friday's finale.
Juniors
Hailey Batista and
Maegan Garrison also went deep for the maroon and gray.
NC Central will continue play in the Winthrop Garnet & Gold Tournament with two more games on Saturday. The Eagles will first play Fordham University at 12:30 p.m., before battling LIU again at 3 p.m.
GAME ONE: LIU 4, NC Central 3
The Eagles jumped out to a 3-nil advantage on the strength of three solo home runs, but the Sharks were able to rally late and eventually win on a costly walk-off error by NCCU.
Jones drilled her first homer of the day down the left field line in the second and then launched another homer to left in the fourth to double up the designated visitor's advantage. Three batters later, Batista ripped NCCU's third long ball over the right field fence to complete the maroon and gray scoring for the contest.
Batista's blast was her first of the campaign.
LIU got on the board with a sac fly in the home half of the fourth before scoring two more runs in the fifth to level the score. The game-tying tally was the first of two unearned runs for the Sharks as they scored on a passed ball. LIU then scored another unearned run on an error with two outs in the seventh to end the close affair.
Jones, Batista and sophomore
Jaden Davis all had two hits for the Eagles. NCCU junior
Jaylah Barr and sophomore
Ashanti Eubanks both pitched well for the Eagles, allowing just one earned run in the loss.
GAME TWO: Winthrop 5, NC Central 4
A pair of two-run homers by Garrison and Jones had NCCU leading 4-2 before Winthrop scored the final three runs of the contest to win by one run. It was another NCCU error in the bottom of the seventh that let the game-tying and game-winning runs score for Winthrop.
Trailing by two, Garrison slammed her two-run homer to center in the top of the fifth to tie the contest. An inning later, Jones smashed her third long ball of the day to left-center to push NCCU ahead by a pair of runs.
Jones, who finished the day with three homers, four RBI and three runs scored, now leads NCCU with four home runs and 11 RBI in the first eight games of the season. Garrison's homer was the first of her season.
Winthrop held the visiting Eagles to just four total hits, with Davis and Batista accounting for NCCU's other hits – their third base knocks of the day.
For more information on NCCU Athletics, visit NCCUEaglePride.com, or download the NCCU Eagles Athletics app.
