ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – The Bulldogs softball team experienced a split result on day one of the CIAA Round-Up, opening with an 8-6 victory over Johnson C. Smith but fell 13-7 to Fayetteville State.
 
Senior Nicoleen Ochoa (Madison, Ohio) paced Bowie State (2-5 / 1-1 CIAA) with .750 batting average over the two games, scored a team-high four runs, walked four times and accounted for three hits. Seniors Ja'seph Smith (Bowie, Md.) and Inaya Jones (Baltimore, Md.) tallied three hits each and scored a pair of runs apiece for the Bulldogs. Smith and Jones averaged .600 and .500 respectively in a combined 11 plate appearances.
 
In game one against Johnson C. Smith (2-7 / 0-1 CIAA), the Bulldogs jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before Johnson C. Smith scored its first run in the top of the 4th inning. Bowie State got that run back in their share of the 4th inning.
 
Each team pushed a pair of runs across the dish in the 5th inning before JCSU's Golden Bulls made it interesting in top half of the 7th inning, scoring three runs to trim the Bulldogs lead to 8-6, pounding out four hits. With a runner on second, the Golden Bulls missed an opportunity to tie the game when Ochoa got the go-ahead batter fly out to end the game.
 
Ochoa and Smith accounted for three hits each against JCSU while freshman Morgan White (Baltimore, Md.) had two hits in the victory.
 
Game two started in a similar fashion for Bowie State as the Bulldogs plated three in the top of the 1st inning and added two more runs in top of the 2nd inning for the early 5-0 advantage.  However, Fayetteville State exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning to gain a 7-5 advantage. The Broncos roughed up Bowie State pitching for six hits in the frame.
 
Fayetteville State (2-12 / 1-0) scored one in the 4th inning and another run in the 5th inning, before the Bulldogs stopped the run with a run in the top of the 6th inning.
 
The Lady Broncos' bats came alive again in the bottom of the 6th inning, pushing four runs across the plate on three hits for a comfortable 13-6 lead. Fayetteville State pounded out 14 hits compared to just five for the BSU Bulldogs.
 
Bulldogs junior Morgan Powell recorded her first homer of the season in BSU's half of the 7th inning but it was too late to mount a comeback.
 
Bowie State will look to get back into the win column on Saturday (3/17) morning to begin day two of the three-day Round-Up. The Bulldogs will face Livingstone at 10 a.m. followed by a 12 p.m. matchup against Saint Augustine's.