CULLOWHEE, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University softball team suffered losses in its last two games of the Catamount Classic on Sunday, falling to Gardner-Webb University (L, 14-5) and host Western Carolina University (L, 13-4).
 
Junior Jai'lyn Edwards led the maroon and gray with a run-producing single in the first game and two home runs in the nightcap to finish with five RBI on the day.
 
NC Central (4-18 Overall) – the reigning MEAC champions – will next turn its attention to league play by hosting Howard University in its first MEAC three-game weekend series at Thomas Brooks Park in Cary on March 16-17. The Eagles and Bison will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., and then finish up the series on Sunday with a revised start time of 2 p.m.
 
GAME ONE: Gardner-Webb 14, NC Central 5 (6 innings)
 
The Eagles scored in three different frames, but the Runnin' Bulldogs took advantage of five NCCU errors and eight walks to slowly pull away to the run-rule victory in six innings. Only seven of GWU's 14 runs were earned.
 
Senior Ivory Jones put NCCU on the board with a three-run homer in the second inning. Her long ball to left field was her second homer of the three-day event.
 
Edwards drove in the next maroon and gray run with a single in the fifth inning and senior Jaylah Barr capped NCCU's scoring with a solo home run to lead-off the sixth inning. Barr launched her team-high third homer of the season over the fence in center field.
 
Gardner-Webb (19-6) received hits from all nine slots in its lineup to win its 10th straight game. Graduate student Adrienne Visintine had two hits, including a grand slam in the fifth for a team-high four RBI.
 
GAME TWO: Western Carolina 13, NC Central 4 (5 innings)
 
Edwards hit a pair of home runs, but the Catamounts tallied a season-high 17 hits to pull away from the Eagles in five innings.
 
Edwards provided NCCU with the initial lead with a solo homer in the top of the first, drilling a solo home to right field. She added a three-run shot to center in the fifth to account for all four of NCCU's runs.
 
Western Carolina (3-11) had nine players collect hits, including seven of those Catamounts finishing with multiple base knocks. Senior Jeralynn Wells led the group with three hits. Wells joined sophomore Kennedy Stewman and senior Savannah Baldwin with three RBI apiece.
 
Barr matched Edwards with two hits as Barr finished with a team-high seven hits over NCCU's four games at the Catamount Classic.
 
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