MURFREESBORO, N.C. - The Chowan University softball team clinched the CIAA Northern Division title on Sunday afternoon with a sweep of Bowie State University.
The Hawks defeated Bowie State 8-0 in the opening game before topping the Lady Bulldogs 6-3 in the nightcap. Chowan improves to 25-12 overall and concludes CIAA regular season play with a 14-0 record. Bowie State falls to 11-21 on the year and 7-5 in CIAA play with the setbacks.
In the opening game, Chowan's Tina White (Whiteville, N.C.) led off the contest with a double and scored on a groundout by Katrina Simmons (San Diego, Calif.) to give the Hawks a quick 1-0 advantage. Chowan tacked on two additional runs in the second using a Rachel Clark (West Lock Alberta, Canada) sacrifice fly and White's infield single. A Haley Cox (Randleman, N.C.) grand slam over the left field fence extended Chowan's lead to 7-0 in the third. Tori Cragan's (Concord, N.C.) homerun in the fourth pushed the Hawks lead to 8-0 and propelled Chowan to victory.
Kayla Robins (Matthews County, Va.) held the Lady Bulldogs to three hits in the contest while striking out eight batters.
Bowie State's hits in game one came off the bats of freshman
Jaelyn Belt (Glen Burnie, Md.) and sophomores
Jacqueline Pickering (Bowie, Md.) and
Emily Lewis (Aberdeen, Md.).
Stefanie Ray (Damascus, Md.) took the loss (7-11) on the mound for Bowie State after surrendering eight runs (eight earned) in four innings of work.
In the nightcap, Kris Neal (Clayton, N.C.) gave the Hawks an early spark with a solo homerun to left in the bottom of the second. A wild pitch and Neal's sacrifice fly in the fourth gave Chowan two additional runs and a 3-0 advantage.
RBI singles by Haley Cooper (Perquimans County, N.C.) and Neal pushed the Hawks to a 5-0 lead in the fifth. White's RBI single in the sixth left the Lady Bulldogs looking to battle back from a 6-0 deficit. Ray's sacrifice fly in the seventh and RBI singles by sophomore
Nicoleen Ochoa (Madison, Ohio) and Belt gave the Lady Bulldogs three runs but it was not enough to overcome the deficit.
Robins earned the win in game two and collected 12 strikeouts for a two-game total of 20. She held the Lady Bulldogs to four hits in six innings of work in game two. Audrey Hubbard (Herlock, Md.) threw the final inning and surrendered three (unearned) runs off of four hits.
Neal, Simmons, and White each recorded two hits in the win with Neal accounted for three RBI.
Ochoa took the loss (3-10) in the circle after allowing six runs (four earned) off of nine hits. Belt paced the Lady Bulldogs with three hits followed by Ochoa with two hits.
The Lady Bulldogs will look to close out the regular season on a positive note on Monday (4/25), playing a doubleheader at Elizabeth City State University. First pitch of game one is set for 11 a.m.
