GAME 1 | Winston-Salem 3, Fayetteville State 2
FAYETTEVILLE, NC -- Freshman Tamarah Lowery was mowing people down on Friday, fanning 11 Winston-Salem hitters over nine innings of work, but it was not enough as the Fayetteville State Broncos fell to the Rams 3-2.
In addition to her 11 strikeouts, Lowery (2-5) tossed nine innings, giving up three runs, two earned, on three hits and walking five for Fayetteville State (6-14).
The Broncos were trailing 1-0 in the first inning when they first put runs on the board. Freshman Cheyenne Payne came across to score the lone run of the inning for Fayetteville State and get them on the board.
The game remained tied until the sixth inning, when the Broncos got going again on offense. Fayetteville State picked up a run on freshman Treja Patterson's two-out solo home run off of freshman N. Cruz, which brought the score to 2-1 in favor of the Broncos. The Broncos were unable to hold the lead, as Winston-Salem scored two times over the remaining three innings to grab the 3-2 win.
Lowery fanned 11 Rams hitters. Fayetteville State's highest scoring inning was the sixth, when it pushed one run across. The Broncos out-hit the Rams at a 6-3 clip. Payne stole two bases in Friday's game. Fayetteville State pitchers limited Winston-Salem to just 2-for-16 (.125) with runners in scoring position. Fayetteville State pitchers faced 35 Winston-Salem hitters in the game, allowing six ground balls and nine fly balls while striking out 11. Patterson led the Broncos at the plate, going 1-for-3 with a home run and an RBI. Winston-Salem was led offensively by senior M. Simmons, who went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Sophomore J. Thomas led the Rams pitching staff, throwing 3.1 shutout innings.
