The softball team capped its inaugural season with an appearance in the NJCAA Region 10 Division II Tournament, played at Burlington’s Springwood Park.
After dropping their tournament opener 12-0 against Patrick Henry Community College, the ninth-seeded Trojans faced an elimination game Thursday, May 9, against No. 6 seed Paul D. Camp Community College.
The Trojans (10-26) came from behind twice in the game but ultimately fell 15-14 when the Hurricanes hit a two-out, walk-off home run.
After a seven-run second inning by Paul D. Camp (22-17), the Trojans answered with eight runs on eight hits in the top of the fifth.
Cameron Motes reached on an error to start the inning. The next four batters – Morgan Rawald, Allieyah Awad, Taylor Brown, and Katlyn Naylor – each singled, with Brown driving in Motes’ pinch runner, Danielle Gray, and Naylor’s base hit plating Rawald.
Cue the hart of the Trojans’ lineup, which delivered a trio of extra-base hits. Ashlee Naylor drove in Awad and Brown on a double, and Hayden Smith’s triple cleared the bases, making way for Grayson Lewis, who sent Smith home with a double.
The result was a 8-7 Trojan lead, but the Hurricanes would wipe it away int eh bottom half-inning, scoring seven runs to lead 14-8.
Fayetteville Tech chipped away, tacking on a pair of runs in the sixth before tying the game on a four-run, two-our rally in the top of the seventh.
Awad and Katlyn Naylor threaded singles between a pair of Hurricane errors that allowed Brown and Smith to reach. Ashlee Naylor and Lewis followed with a double and a base hit, respectively, to know the score at 14-14 going into the bottom of the seventh.
The Trojan defense retired the first two batters on a fly ball to second and a groundout to third, but Morgan Owens, the Region 10 Division II Player of the Year, sent a 1-0 pitch yard, giving the Hurricanes the 15-14 win and ending the Trojans’ season.
