CARY, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University softball team rallied for a 7-6 victory in the opening game and then run-ruled University of Maryland Eastern Shore 9-1 in the nightcap to complete a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep on Saturday afternoon at Thomas Brooks Park.
Freshman first baseman
Takia Nichols hit a pair of home runs in the first game, including a go-ahead, three-run blast in the bottom of the sixth inning to propel the Eagles to the one-run triumph. Nichols finished the day with three hits, four RBI and three runs scored.
Junior outfielder
Ivory Jones nailed her own three-run homer in the first inning of the second game and set the tone towards the eight-run rule conquest in five innings. Jones had two hits, three walks, one hit-by-pitch and two stolen bases for an .857 on-base percentage for the day.
NCCU leads the MEAC in home runs and now has 25 homers in 27 games for nearly one per game.
NC Central improved to 7-20 on the season while remaining undefeated against conference opposition at 5-0. Maryland Eastern Shore slipped to 6-15 on the campaign and 2-3 in the league. The Eagles will host the Hawks in the series finale on Sunday at noon.
GAME ONE: NC Central 7, UMES 6
Nichols hit her fourth and fifth home runs of her rookie season as she accounted for majority of NCCU's runs. Nichols launched a solo shot in the third inning that put the Eagles ahead 3-1 before the Hawks scored five unanswered runs to pull ahead 6-3. However, Nichols capped a four-run bottom of the sixth with a low-lasered, three-run home run over the center field fence to catapult NCCU ahead for good.
Sophomore pitcher
Ashanti Eubanks then pitched a scoreless top of the seventh after Nichols put the maroon and gray in front to seal a complete-game victory. Eubanks had three strikeouts in her second win of the season.
Junior
Morgan Green, freshman
Makiya Graves and junior
Imara Harrell all had an RBI for the victors.
UMES finished with a 10-6 hit advantage with four different Hawks tallying two hits. Freshman Jaycee Holt had a strong performance from atop the visiting lineup with two hits, one RBI and two runs scored. UMES scored two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to construct its three-run edge that NCCU was able to quickly erase.
Nichols and Graves led NCCU with two hits apiece.
GAME TWO: NC Central 9, UMES 1 (5 Innings)
The Eagles scored in four of the five innings played and sophomore
Jaden Davis did not allow an earned run as NCCU tallied its first run-rule conquest of the 2023 season.
Jones ripped her team-high seventh long ball to center field, knocking in NCCU's first three runs. Graves then just missed a home run in the second inning, but settled for an RBI-double. Junior
Maegan Garrison and sophomore
Jai'lyn Edwards each knocked in a run in the third before Edwards ended the game with a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth.
Seven different NC Central batters had hits. Edwards and Jones each finished with three RBI. Graves matched Nichols with three hits in the twin bill.
An error cost Davis the shutout, but she did improve to 3-0 in three MEAC starts. Davis (4-8) scattered five hits over her five innings of work while fanning three Hawks.
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