Fayetteville, NC – Fayetteville State softball finally had a chance to compete on its home field at Lamon Street Park near downtown Fayetteville. The outcome of the crowd that came out to support was amazing, but the outcome of the doubleheader was not as amazing. Claflin University (4-0 overall) swept the Broncos (0-4) in the season series with a 9-0 and 7-3 victory.
Bronco fans cheered on Chancellor Darrell Allison as he completed his first week on the job by throwing out the ceremonious first pitch.
Chancellor Darrell Allison completes his first week on the job by tossing the first pitch at the Broncos home-opener
Claflin fans cheered as the Panthers dinged two homers over the fence for the game. With a 2-0 lead after the first inning, Chaston Huntly hit the first home run over right-center field to help the Panthers to a 5-0 advantage. Janell Brown hit a double to left-center for a 2 RBI score in the fifth and Marion Goins put the game away with a homer over left-center field for the final two scores. Eight hits and one Bronco error contributed to the nine runs. Bre'Zhay Chambers gets the win in the pitching circle with 16 batters faced in five innings and a total of five strikeouts.
Tanika Powell had the Broncos only hits in her two appearances.
Breana Brown (0-2) is charged with the loss with 19 batters faced in her four innings in the circle. She gave up five hits which led to five runs, four of which were earned. Brown struck out one batter and walked two.
Fayetteville State improved on its hitting in the second game of the twin bill. The Broncos collected 11 hits for three RBI in the 7-3 loss. Leadoff batter
Tanika Powell was joined by
Makyiah Mitchell,
Grace Vincent, and
Angel Johnson with two hits each.
M'Smrya Seward,
Anya Adams, and
Breana Brown all had one each.
Makyiah Mitchell scored the Broncos' first RBI in the first inning with a single to right field. The hit allowed Seward to cross home plate and tie the game at one each.
The Panthers scored four runs off two home runs in the second inning for a 5-1 lead. Marion Goins hit the first homer for two runners batted in. Jaelyn Jackson hit the second for another two runs added to the score. Jackson recorded another RBI in the fourth inning, to give Claflin a 7-1 lead, when she grounded out to
Tanika Powell at shortstop. The throw to first allowed Ashley Thomas to score after being looked down by Powell.
In the bottom of the sixth,
Anya Adams singled to right-center and allowed Vincent to come home.
Angel Johnson's hit to center field gave way for Adams to score.
Claflin's pitcher Shaniya Thomas gets the "W" with all seven innings pitched and 31 batters faced. FSU's starting pitcher
BreAnna Steele is now 0-2 in the circle with 1.2 innings pitched and 11 batters faced. She gave up five earned runs on six hits.
Fayetteville State University will travel to Elizabeth City, North Carolina on Thursday, March 25 for the first two of four games against the Vikings of ECSU. Elizabeth City State will visit the Lamon Street Park on Sunday, March 28. Both events are scheduled to have a 1 and 3 pm start.
