Glen Allen, VA – The Shaw University Lady Bears softball team earned the right to participate in the CIAA softball championship in over three years and put forth a strong effort before dropping two games on opening day to top seed Virginia State 10-1 and to Southern Division foe Fayetteville State 4-3 in extra innings.
Game 1 – Trojans 10, Lady Bears 1.
Shaw fell behind early allowing the Trojans to score four runs on a late two-out rally at the bottom of the first inning. VSU continued to cushion their lead with three runs in the second inning followed by a single run in the third before capping off their scoring with two runs in the fourth.
The Lady Bears would erase the zero off the scoreboard with a run in the top of the fifth as Virginia Ollison grounded out to second bringing in Bri Chavis from third before the run-rule was put into effect. Syhia Marks, Ayania Williams, and Chavis were able to spread out three hits through five innings for the Lady Bears. Marks finished the contest with six strikeouts.
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Game 2 – Broncos 4, Lady Bears 3.
Both teams battled through four scoreless innings before the classic ending approached. The Broncos got on the board first with an error from the Lady Bears who tallied four total on the day. Shaw tied the score at 1-1 with a RBI from Natya Truitt who scored Paradise Andrews at the top of the sixth. FSU positioned itself to win the game retaking the lead 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth using another error from the Lady Bears.
Shaw battled until the end down to their final three outs scoring two runs in the top of the seventh with RBI's from Chavis and Ollison to put Shaw ahead 3-2 needing just three outs for the comeback victory. Another fielding mistake proved costly as FSU was able to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh. Shaw could not continue scoring at the top of the eighth as FSU loaded the bases before a single to left field brought home the winning run.
