DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - During a Saturday split, Bethune-Cookman softball dropped its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference contest of the season after picking up a 4-1 victory and dropping a 9-5 setback to the North Carolina A&T Aggies, April 18 at Sunnyland Park in Daytona Beach.
Game One
Two hits in the top of the first put NCA&T on the board early, taking a 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats answered in the bottom of the inning after Calesha Shelley led off with a single to short. With the first pitch to Mariah Davis, Shelley stole second, moving into scoring position. After a Davis walk, Shelley challenge the Aggie catcher's arm again, this time stealing third, allowing Davis to shift to second.
After a Sophia Ortega fly out, Shamaria Engram sent one to left field, scoring Shelley and knotting the early score at one.
Back-to-back walks from Kaitlin Alamprese and Melissa Berouty scored a second Wildcat run before the bottom of the first ended with a 2-1 B-CU lead.
After a scoreless second, the Wildcats tacked another run to their lead in the third after Alamprese singled to second followed by a steal, placed her in scoring position. Berouty followed with a single up the middle, scoring Alamprese from second and pushing the Wildcat lead to 3-1.
Nothing happened for either team in the fourth as the 'Cats added their fourth and final run to the board in the bottom of the fifth when Wanda Darby reached first after being hit in the face mask by the Aggie's pitcher. Shelley sent a hard one up the middle, scoring Darby before B-CU took the 4-1 victory in game one.
Sophomore Sabrina Anguiano (11-20, 7-0 MEAC) collected the game-one win for the Wildcats after throwing a complete seven innings, giving up eight hits, one run, striking out two batters and walking one.
Game Two
Night-and-day during game two as the Wildcat bats went silent. After completing game one with no errors, B-CU opened the second match-up with three errors in the first inning allowing the Aggies to go up 2-0 early.
NCAT added to its lead in the second scoring three more runs, and taking an early 5-0 lead.
The Wildcats switched Anguiano and Breanna Chavez on the mound to open the third inning while B-CU was still hitless.
An unearned run for B-CU in the fifth cut the NCAT lead to four, before the Aggies answered in the top of the sixth added two runs to the board, pulling ahead 7-1.
Shelley broke the hit drought for the Wildcats in the bottom of the sixth with a single to short stop. B-CU capitalized on an Aggie error and passed ball, allowing two runs to cross, as the Wildcats trailed 7-3 heading into the final inning.
NCAT added another duo of runs in the seventh as the Wildcats picked up two more hits in the final inning from Shelley and Davis, along with two runs, before coming up short in the 9-5 game-two setback.
Anguiano (10-21, 7-1 MEAC) suffered the Wildcat loss after throwing the opening two innings, giving up three hits, five runs and two walks, while striking out one.
With inclement weather predicted to start tomorrow afternoon in the Daytona Beach area, game-three between Bethune-Cookman and North Carolina A&T has been pushed to a 10 a.m., first pitch at Sunnyland Park.
