Hill’s average goes above .400

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GREENSBORO, March 29, 2009 – After a March 7 loss to Charleston Southern, junior Sasha Philpot’s ERA was nearing four and she was coming off of her third loss in four outings. Three weeks later, she is a different pitcher.

Philpot threw a complete-game two-hit shutout and struck out eight batters to lead the North Carolina A&T softball team to a 7-0 conference win over S.C. State in the second game of a Sunday doubleheader at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex. The Aggies won the first game 15-7 to start the conference season 2-0.

Over the last three weeks, Philpot is 3-1. Her ERA is below two, and opponents are batting just .176 against her. On Sunday, she allowed just one Bulldog to reach third despite walking three batters. The Aggies are 13-11 overall.

The N.C. A&T offense did its damage early for Philpot. In the first inning, Yahamma White led off with a single, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Hill reached on a fly ball that landed between shortstop and left field, which kept White on third. Tangie Conover took care of the base runners, however, with a double to left field for a 2-0 Aggies lead.

Conover later scored on a fielding error to put the Aggies in front 3-0. Jessie Larson would add a home run in the fifth, her second of the season and the 12^th of her career. Bianca Alsobrook followed Larson’s homer with a walk. She would later score on a White RBI double to close out the Aggies scoring.

It was more than enough offense for Philpot. The Bulldogs could not get the ball out of the infield over the last four innings of the game, and Philpot struck out three of the last six batters she faced to improve to 6-4 on the season.

Hill led the Aggies at the plate by going 4-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI to raise her season batting average above .400. White was 3-for-4 as the Aggies recorded 11 hits, which went along nicely with the 19 hits they amassed in Game 1.

The Aggies found themselves down 5-2 going into the fifth inning.  The offense came alive with a 10-run, 11-hit inning to turn a possible loss into a blowout. Conover started the onslaught with her second home run of the season. The Aggies would hit three home runs in the inning as Hill and Channing Statham hit two-run home runs in the inning.

Conover was 5-fof-5 in the game with four RBIs and two runs scored. Larson, Lillian Bullock and Ashley Carter had three hits apiece, and Hill and Larson had three RBIs apiece. Jennifer Luper earned the win to on the mound to improve to 7-6 on the season.

The Aggies and the Bulldogs will play again 1 p.m., Monday at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex.