It was a tough weekend for the Clark Atlanta University Lady Panthers softball team as they dropped three games in a crucial series with Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley Ga., Friday and Saturday.

The Lady Panthers (9-33, 2-16 SIAC) then lost two games to Edward Waters on Sunday.

The FVSU series was an important one as the Lady Panthers still had a chance to make the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships that begin May 5 in Albany, Ga.  CAU hasn't qualified for the SIAC Championships, which only takes the conference's top eight teams, since 2018.

Friday, the Lady Panthers jumped out front in the first game of their doubleheader against FVSU when Johannas Bentley tripled and then scored to put CAU up 1-0 in the first inning.  But the bottom of the inning saw FVSU score three runs on four hits and an error to go up 3-1.   The Wildcats added single runs in the third and fourth innings as CAU's bats began to cool as they fell behind 5-1.

The seventh saw a CAU rally as Jazmin Scott and Sania Butler singled. Bentley then singled in Scott and Rachel Carroll drove in Butler with a single as CAU pulled to within two at 5-3.  But that was as close as the Lady Panthers would get.

Butler led CAU with three hits and a run scored, while Carroll also had three hits and drove in a run. Bentley, Scott, Ariyana Hansley, and Jayla Hill each had two hits for CAU.  Hill took the loss on the mound, giving up ten hits and three earned runs while stricken out two.  She didn't walk a batter.

Rasheedah Hasan had three hits – one of them a home run - an RBI and scored twice for FVSU. Caprice Johnson got the win.

In the second game of the doubleheader, CAU again jumped out front in the first inning when Bentley again singled in a run, this time driving in Tatianna Kelly to put CAU up 1-0.  But FVSU put up six runs in the bottom of the first and didn't look back as the defeated CAU 12-2.

Scott and Kelly led CAU with two hits and a run scored for each.  Amaya Chesterfield took the loss for CAU as she gave up 12 hits and seven earned runs. 

Morghan Holland, Amaya Pagan, Jakiyra Lemmon, and Kaitlin Gardner each had two hits.  Gardner and Lemmon each drove in three runs.  Re'Nesha Goolsby got the win for FVSU.

The third game of the series was on Saturday and for the third straight game, Bentley drove in a first inning run, again singling in Kelly, to put CAU up 1-0.  In the bottom of the second, Pagan tripled in a run and Riley Jenkins drove in another with a sacrifice fly to put FVSU up 2-1.

In the third, Scott's ground ball to second was booted, allowing Hansley to score for CAU.  Sarah Colbert's sacrifice then scored Scott as CAU went up 3-2.  But in the bottom of the third, FVSU broke things open with a nine-run inning.  They had seven hits and were aided by two CAU errors to go up 11-3.  CAU could only manage one hit in the final two innings as they dropped the final game of the series.

CAU only managed four hits – one each by Kelly, Bentley, Hansley, and Judy Blalock.

Sunday the Lady Panthers ventured to Jacksonville, Fla., to take on Edward Waters to close out the regular season.

The first game saw Edward Waters get three runs in the first inning and two more in the second to go up 5-0.  CAU got on the board in the fourth when a Carroll grounder resulted in an error that allowed Scott to score, making it 5-1.

EWU added two runs in the fifth, but CAU got two themselves in the sixth when Carroll doubled in Bentley and Kelly to make it 8-3.  But it wasn't enough as Edward Waters went on to win 9-3.
CAU only managed five hits – doubles by Kelly, Carroll, and Chesterfield, and singles by Bentley and Scott. Chesterfield took the loss for CAU as she gave up five runs on four hits in two innings of work.

Jamiah Holmes and Brooke Rice each had two hits and scored twice for EWU.  Milani Sablan got the win for the Tigers as she struck out eight hitters over six innings and walked only one.

In game two, Bentley's sacrifice fly in the first scored Scott to put CAU up 1-0 early.   But it was all CAU could muster as they only managed three hits in falling 9-1 to Edward Waters. 

Hill doubled, while Kelly and Blalock had CAU's only other hits.  Hill took the loss as she gave up six earned runs on fifteen hits. 

Rice was 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs for EWU, while Peters was 2-for-3 with a homer, an RBI and two runs scored.  Julianna Tabian got the win as she gave up just four hits and one earned run over six innings.