BOX SCORE
(RALEIGH, N.C.) Livingstone College made its game with Bowie State University very interesting over the first two innings, before the defending CIAA Champion Lady Bulldogs were able to pull away for a 13-5 victory over the Lady Blue Bears.
The Livingstone bats were popping from the opening pitch, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Lady Blue Bears beat on Bowie State pitching for five hits in their share of the inning.
Not to be outdone, Bowie State mirrored Livingstone, pounding out five hits and scoring three runs to tie the game at 3-3.
Livingstone's Sheniquia Harrison belted a two-run homer in the second to give the Lady Blue Bears a 5-3 advantage. With two outs, Erica Gilliam-Washington reached on a double and later scored on the Harrison long ball.
This must have been a game of matches because Bowie State's Lady Bulldogs matched Livingstone's Lady Blue Bears with two runs and three hits to knot things up at 5-5.
However, two innings do not make a complete game. BSU freshman pitcher Megan Alexander (Damascus, Md., Damascus) walked the first batter then was relieved by senior Faline Brown (Inwood, W.Va., Hagerstown C.C.). Brown struck out two and the third out was caught stealing.
Bowie State sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the third inning to break the game wide open. The Lady Bulldogs roughed up Livingstone pitching for five runs in the third on five hits.
The Lady Blue Bears went down in order in the fourth inning while the Lady Bulldogs added their final three runs on three hits.
Harrison led off the Livingstone fifth inning with a single but was left stranded to close out the game by way of the NCAA 8-run rule. Harrison recorded a game-high three hits and tied for team-high RBI honors with Kayler McBride as each was responsible for two.
Six different Bowie State players had at least two hits and four Lady Bulldogs' players accounted for two RBI.
Bowie State is scheduled to play its next two games on the road as well, this time travelling to non-conference opponents, West Chester on Monday (March 15) and Millersville on Tuesday (March 16), weather permitting. BSU's Lady Bulldogs, return home Wednesday (March 17) to take on Fairmont (W.Va.) State University in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
