COVINGTON, Ga. – The North Carolina Central softball team scored three runs in the sixth inning to beat Southern 4-2 for its first victory of the season in the HBCU Collegiate Invitational at Turner Lake Softball Complex on Friday.

In their second game, the Eagles fell 8-7 to Alcorn State after holding a three-run lead in the sixth inning.

NCCU will play two games on Saturday in the invitational. The Eagles (1-5 overall) face Prairie View A&M at noon and Florida A&M at 4 p.m.

The trio of Takia Nichols, Nyla Rodgers and Jaden Davis each collected an RBI in the sixth to erase a 2-1 deficit against Southern (0-6). Nichols drove in Kendall Smith with a single to right field and Rodgers' sacrifice fly to center field scored Makiya Graves. Davis hit a single to center field to score Codi Mann.

Smith batted 3-for-3 with one run scored and two stolen bases for the Eagles, who registered nine hits. Davis was 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored and Daiyah Bailey was 2-for-2 with an RBI. Bailey's single to center field scored Davis to tie the score 1-1 in the second inning.

Davis went the distance to record her first pitching win this season. She scattered five hits with one earned run, five strikeouts and four walks in seven innings.

In the second game, the Eagles scored six unanswered runs between the fourth and sixth innings to wipe out a 4-1 third-inning deficit. They led 7-4 in the bottom of the sixth but were undone by Alcorn State's four-run rally in the same inning.

Smith had three RBIs and one run scored for the Eagles, who totaled seven hits as a team compared to 11 for Alcorn State (3-3 overall). The Eagles left nine runners on base.

Bailey finished 2-for-4 with a double, one RBI and two runs scored. Graves was 3-for-4 with a triple and Cameron Frye had an RBI and one run scored. Samaria Jackson, Sydney Jones and Rodgers each scored a run.