RICHMOND, Va. – Bowie State University (4-15 / 4-7 CIAA) softball earned a split at Virginia Union University on Sunday afternoon, winning game one 7-2 but fell short in game two 6-4.
 
Madison Margas led Bowie State with a .714 batting average, getting five hits in seven at bats. Kristina Hawke batted .571 on the afternoon while Shanya Gordon and Amya Ferguson closing the doubleheader out batting .500.
 
In game one, Bowie State recorded 12 hits with Margas leading the way with three while Tiffany Bearns along with Aseyah Alexander accounting for two apiece. The Bulldogs scored three in the top of the 1st inning with two of those runs coming via a 2-run home run by Bearns.
 
Alexander reached on a single to left field in the top of the second and later scored on a wild pitch. Kristina Hawke laced a double to left field, scoring Alexander to give the Bulldogs the 5-2 advantage.
 
Alexander stroked a two-out single down the left field line in the top of 7th inning, pushing Margas and Jaelyn Belt across the dish to extend the Bowie State lead to 7-2.
 
VUU's Lewis hit a two-out double, scoring Wright but the BSU lead was safe at 7-3.
 
Morgan Powell picked up her first win of the season, striking out two of 32 batters faced over seven innings.
 
Virginia Union recorded runs in the bottom of the 1st inning of game two to take the early 2-0 lead and extended its lead to 4-0 after two innings.
 
Bowie State's Amya Ferguson led off the top of the 3rd inning with a slap double to right center and Hawke followed with a triple to right center, scoring Ferguson trim Virginia Union's lead to 4-2.
 
The Lady Panthers added a pair of runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to give Virginia Union some breathing room at 6-2.
 
The Bulldogs made it interesting in the top of the 7th inning. Ferguson and Hawke hit back-to- back, one out singles, and Gordan hit a ground rule double, pushing one run across the plate for Bowie State. Margas single up the middle, scoring Hawke to trim the BSU deficit to 6-4. With runners on the corners, VUU pitching was able to get BSU to pop out to end the game.
 
Of Bowie State's 13 total hits in game two, the trio of Ferguson, Hawke and Gordon paced the Bulldogs with three hits each. Gordon was the RBI leader in the nightcap with two.
 
Hawke took the loss in the circle, pitching 4.2 innings allowing eights hits but as a team Bowie State had three errors over the first two innings.
 
The Bulldogs return to action on Wednesday (4/3) traveling across town to face Division I Howard in a single non-conference game. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Nationals Youth Academy.