ETTRICK, VA  – The Trojans went 1-1 in the double-elimination CIAA Softball Championship. They beat Bowie State for the third time this season 10-5 before losing to Claflin for the second time this season 5-2. Virginia State and Bowie State have both suffered losses which means whomever wins the matchup tomorrow will advance to the CIAA Softball Championship to face Claflin.
 

Game 1 (Bowie State)
After a slow start to the game the Trojans struck first on an RBI single from Macy Beville to score Samantha Cunningham. Leah Harrison would later double to score Macy Beville. Alaija Pratt went on to add a pair of RBI on a single, which scored Leah Harrison and Machenze Flood. Nia Hall put a powerful swing on a ball, which landed for a double to score Alani Horton and Alaija Pratt. Samantha Cunningham scored Nia Hall on a single. The Trojans ended the inning with seven hits and eight runs to take a 7-0 lead heading into the top of the third inning. The top of the fourth inning saw BSU begin to mount their comeback starting with a triple, which scored two runs followed by a single to score one. Later that inning, the Bulldogs doubled to add another run. They rounded out their inning with a groundout to the catcher, which scored a run to make it 7-5 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. Alaija Pratt answered back with a two-run home run to add a pair in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend the lead to 9-5 in favor of the Trojans. The bottom of the sixth inning saw the Trojans add an insurance run with Nia Hall scoring the 10^th run on a wild pitch. The Trojans held the Bulldogs scoreless in the top of the seventh inning to win 10-5. The Trojans advanced to the Winners Bracket to face Claflin in the second game of the day.

 
Top Performers
Alaijah Pratt: 2-4, 2 Runs, 4 RBI, Home Run
Nia Hall: 3-4, 2 Runs, 2 RBI, Double, Stolen Base
Samantha Cunningham: 3-4, Run, RBI, 2 Doubles
Machenze Flood: 2-4, Run
Desmyn Owens: Win, 7 Innings Pitched, 5 Earned Runs, 4 strikeouts, 2 Walks

 
Game 2 (Claflin)
Like the first time the two played, points were hard to come by as the Panthers were able to score the first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning on a sacrifice fly out to right field. CU scored another run on a double to give them a 2-0 leading heading into the top of the fourth inning. After a one-two-three inning for the Panthers, they got the bats back hot adding a run on a double and a single to score another run. Claflin singled again to score a run to extend their lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning. In the top of the sixth inning, Samantha Cunningham belted a ball deep over the outfield fence for a two-run shot. Unfortunately, the Trojans were not able to score anymore runs throughout the remainder of the contest which gave the Panthers their second victory of the day, 5-2.


Top Performers
Nia Hall: 1-3, Run
Samantha Cunningham: 1-3, Run, 2 RBI, Home Run
Serenity Barbee: 1-2, Walk

 
Up Next
Virginia State will face the Bulldogs of Bowie State University for the fourth time this season on Saturday, May 7^th at RF & P Park in Glen Allen, VA with first pitch starting at 11:00 a.m. The winner will go on to face Claflin in the CIAA Softball Championship. Since Virginia State and Bowie State both have losses, whomever advances to the championship will have to beat Claflin twice to win it all.