Aggies tie school record for wins in a season

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GREENSBORO, May 1, 2008 – A loose, relaxed and focused North Carolina A&T softball team went out and took care of business in its final regular-season and home games on Wednesday by sweeping N.C. Central 13-1 and 7-2 at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex.

The win improved N.C. A&T to 31-15-1 on the season. The 31 wins ties the 2003 team for most wins in program history. The 2008 Aggies are guaranteed to finish with the program’s best winning percentage in school history. The 2003 team won 53.4 percent of its game. This season, the Aggies have won 67.4 percent of their games.

The Aggies came into Wednesday’s game having wrapped up a share of the MEAC Southern Division title. Although they have a team made up of mostly sophomores, those sophomores made an impressive run to the MEAC title game last season. Therefore, with only N.C. Central standing between them and another run in the MEAC Tournament May 8-11, the Aggies looked very relaxed and poised.

They even did some dancing between games. But when they stepped between the lines, they made sure fun didn’t stand in the way of beating N.C. Central (3-46), a team that beat them earlier this season.

In the first game, Ryanne Hill went 3-for-3 with a RBI and two runs scored. Tangie Conover had two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs, while Yahamma White scored three times. Jennifer Luper (20-4) became the program’s first 20-game winner by pitching five innings, striking out three and she did not give up an earned run. 

In the second game, the Aggies showcased what might be the defining factor to a run to the MEAC Championship. Sasha Philpot, an all-conference performer in 2007 and the reigning MEAC Pitcher of the Week, earned the win in Game 2. Philpot (10-9) has not given up an earned run in her last 18 innings pitched. She went six innings on Wednesday and struck out eight.

Chaola Simmons, playing in her final game at Lady Aggies Softball Complex, went out in style by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs in Game 2. The Aggies took over the game in the third with a six-run outburst. Simmons started the inning by singling, which was followed by White reaching on a fielder’s choice. Conover stepped up and hit a single to center to score Simmons for a 2-0 Aggies lead.

Jessie Larson’s groundout to second scored White from third, and an infield single by Lillian Bullock scored Conover for a 4-0 Aggies advantage. After a Hill single and a walk to Channing Statham loaded the bases. Toni Torres scored Bullock on a fielder’s Bullock, but it was the senior Simmons who capped the inning with a two-run RBI single to score fellow senior Sylvia Felder and Torres for a 7-0 lead.

After Central scored two runs in the fourth aided by an Aggies error, Philpot took care of the Eagles. She gave up just one hit between the fifth and seventh innings. The Aggies next step is to Ormand Beach, Fla., where they will likely play Delaware State or defending MEAC Champion Howard.