The Prairie View A&M Lady Panther softball team dropped a doubleheader to the Mississippi Valley State Lady Delta Devilettes closing out a four-game series on Saturday afternoon. MVSU rode the arm of Nicole Henderson’s one-hit shutout to defeat the Lady Panthers 11-0 in game one. The Lady Devilettes broke open a scoreless tie in the third with one run and added two runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 5-0 lead. Fueled by first baseman Cristal Holmes’ grand slam, MVSU put the game out of reach with six runs in the top of the seventh.
On the mound, Henderson (1-6) earned her first win of the season while PVAMU’s Christy Uribe fell to 0-7.
In game two, Mississippi Valley State overcame a 5-3 deficit in the seventh inning with four runs to capture the series sweep over Prairie View.
The Lady Panthers jumped out to a 3-1 lead behind RBIs from freshman catcher Brenda Sneed and junior first baseman Jannell Meyers. Junior center fielder Nikki Lilly and freshman left fielder Jennifer Lopez added one RBI apiece in the second and fourth innings respectively to give the Lady Panthers a 5-2 lead.
Down 5-3 with two runners on base in the seventh inning, MVSU left fielder Valerie Nicholson cleared the bases with a three-run homer to propel MVSU to a 6-5 lead. The Lady Devilettes added an insurance run several batters later to take a 7-5 advantage going into the bottom frame.
The Lady Panthers began the seventh inning with back-to-back singles and trimmed the deficit to 7-6 on Meyers’ sacrifice fly but MVSU held off the Lady Panthers’ late charge to keep them winless on the season.
Offensively, Meyers led the Lady Panthers with three RBIs and two hits. Freshman pitcher Analisa Gonzales dropped to 0-7 on the season while MVSU’s Jalana Brown (2-7) picked up the win in relief.
The Lady Panthers (0-21) return to action with a 4 p.m. contest against Houston Baptist on Wednesday, March 22 in Prairie View.