GREENSBORO -- North Carolina A&T came away with a 7-5 win over Western Carolina, Friday during the first day of the annual North Carolina A&T Invitational. Freshman Detavia Kenan led the way for a lineup that included nine freshmen by going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored.

The game ended in five innings because of darkness.

The first game of the invite was postponed due to rain; therefore, only three of the scheduled four games were played. Four games will be played on Saturday and Sunday with Sunday's championship game scheduled for 3 p.m.

N.C. A&T plays twice on Saturday with an 11 a.m., game against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne and a 3 p.m., game against Presbyterian.

The Aggies lone game on Friday included a big seven-run second inning. Four straight Aggies reached to help N.C. A&T score its first run of the game. Kenan, however, had the biggest hit of the inning. Kenan lined a three-run RBI triple to left center field to score Dominique Smith, Sabrina Edmonds and Tiffany Macklin, giving the Aggies a 7-2 lead.

The Catamounts mounted a rally in their half of the fifth. Erin Foster opened the inning with a triple off of Aggies starter Hope Fletcher. Amber Steinhardt followed with a single to move the Catamounts to within four. Western Carolina scored its next run on an Aggies error. Jordan Fulton's groundout led to another run and only a two-run advantage for the Aggies.   

But Fletcher ended the Catamounts rally with runners on third and second by striking out Ashley Jones. Fletcher (2-1) picked up the win by tossing five innings and striking out one.

Morgan State Downs NSU in Spartan Invite Opener, 9-1

NORFOLK, Va. - Lydia Rodriguez hit a grand slam and added six RBI all-together for Morgan State in a 9-1 win over the Norfolk State softball team Friday evening in the opening game of the weekend-long Spartan Invitational.

Rodriguez smacked a two-run double in the four-run third for the Bears, then knocked one over the right-center field fence in the fifth inning as part of her 2-for-3 night. Morgan State improved to 5-6 on the year, while the Spartans fell to 2-3 overall.

Megan Johnson (1-1) picked up the win for the Bears, giving up four hits and one earned run in all five innings. Freshman Jamie Schulle (1-2) suffered the loss for NSU, giving up eight runs - five earned - on four hits in 4+ innings.

Morgan State got on the board first in the top of the first inning on an RBI groundout, but NSU tied it back up at 1-1 in the bottom of the second. Junior left fielder Casey Pomeroy doubled into the right-center field gap to score freshman Kathy Cortez, who had singled up the middle to open the inning.

The Bears, however, plated four runners in the top of the third. A fielding error on the Spartans allowed the first run to score, then an RBI single by Tiffany Rubin got the second run across before Rodriguez hit her two-run double.

After a pair of singles and a walk opened up the top of the fifth, junior Elizabeth Castaneda came in for Schulle. Rodriguez then launched a 1-1 pitch over the fence for the final scoring margin.