Box Score 1

Box Score 2
GREENSBORO, April 12, 2008 – The North Carolina A&T softball team came out looking like its normal self on Saturday, but by the end of the day Florida A&M had finally slowed down the Aggies red hot offense as the two teams split a doubleheader at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex.

The Aggies won the first game 10-7 and the Rattlers took the second game 5-2. The loss ended the Aggies (21-12-1, 4-1 MEAC) nine-game winning streak and marked the Aggies first conference loss of the season.

Channing Statham led the Aggies in Game 1 by going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Yahamma White, Tangie Conover and Lillian Bullock had two RBIs and apiece and Ryanne Hill and Bullock hit home runs.

Although she did not have her normal shutdown performance, rookie Aggies starter Jennifer Luper improved to 13-3 on the season with her sixth straight win on the mound. Things didn’t start well for Luper, who came into the game having surrendered just one earned run in her last 28 innings.

But when Nikki Terryn followed Rhianna Green’s lead-off triple with a sacrifice fly to left in the first inning, the Rattlers had an early 1-0 lead. A Melissa Oliphant double to left field scored two more Rattler runs in the first inning to give Florida A&M a 3-0 lead.

An Aggies offense, which came into the game having recorded double-digit hits in four out of their last six games, would respond. Hill led off the Aggies second by taking Florida A&M starter Tiffany Chan’s 2-0 pitch to the deepest part of center field to put the Aggies on the board. It was Hill’s fourth home run of the season. Statham hit a one-out single up the middle, and Sylvia Felder and Chaola Simmons followed by being walked by Chan.

With the bases loaded, White singled up the middle to score Statham and Felder to tie the game at 3. Conover then hit the first pitch she saw from Chan and planted hit off the center field fence for a double that scored White and Simmons to give the Aggies the lead at 5-3. Bullock added to the Aggies lead with a two-run homer to left field that didn’t land until it traveled another fifty feet beyond the fence.

After Hill singled and Bianca Alsobrook walked, Statham’s two-run RBI double to right gave the Aggies a commanding 9-3 lead. The Aggies carried a 10-4 lead going into the seventh. Alacia Strafford made things a little tighter with a three-run homer, but Luper ended the game by getting Ashley Smith to ground out, ending the game.

The Aggies recorded 11 hits, including four extra base hits in the first game, but could not get their offense going in the second game. The Aggies didn’t get their first hit until the fourth inning thanks to a lead-off double by Simmons. Walks to Larson and Bullock loaded the bases for the Aggies with two outs. But Hill fouled out to first to end the threat.

The Aggies didn’t mount another threat until the sixth. With the Rattlers holding a 5-0 lead going into the sixth, Simmons led off with a single to center field. Simmons moved to second on a White groundout and scored on an error. The Aggies added another run in the sixth when Hill singled to left to score Jessie Larson.

But Oliphant, who ended Game 1 in relief and started Game 2, was too strong. She sat the Aggies down in order in the seventh to improve to 4-6 on the season. Aggies starter Sasha Philpot (7-7) took the loss. The two teams play again Sunday at noon at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex.