BALTIMORE, Md. (March 13, 2019)-Morgan State senior outfielder Damali Young led off the bottom of the first inning of Game 1 of the Lady Bears' home opener against South Carolina State by driving a 2-2 pitch over the right field corner fence to record her 155th career hit at Morgan State, thus moving into second-place all-time for career hits.
 
Young's bomb would be the start to helping the Lady Bears earn a doubleheader sweep of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Southern Division member, South Carolina State by identical five-innings scores of 12-4 and 12-4 on Wednesday afternoon at Lois T. Murray Field.
 
Morgan State (6-11) extended its winning streak to a season-best five straight, while South Carolina State fell to 0-15 on the season. The doubleheader series does not count towards the league standings.
 
"I actually had no idea I was going to break it. I hit it and I thought, okay we're going to start this game off right and get on the board early," said Young of moving into second-place for hits with her homerun. "I heard Coach Larry [Hinelline] say something to the girls and everyone go crazy and I was like, "oh wow, they're really excited." Then Coach Myron [Vanterpool] called me over after I hit home plate and told me and I am sure I smiled as big as I ever have."
 
The homerun would be Young's first of the season and the seventh of her career.
 
"The fact that I did it with a home run is actually quite ironic to me," said Young. "I have always grown up as a singles, contact, line drive type of hitter. So to have all those infield base hits and ground balls that snuck through amount to one driven over the fence was the best moment of my career, hands down."
 
Morgan State would add a run in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead, but the Lady Bulldogs would respond with three runs in the top of the third, including a two-run double to right field to take a 3-2 advantage.
 
The Lady Bears would waste no time, scoring four runs in the bottom half of the inning to reclaim the lead at 6-3. Evvie Buehlman doubled to center field to score Rachel Daugherty to even the score at 3-3. Amy Pacheco then recorded her first homer of the season with a two-run shot to left field to put the hosts ahead, 5-3. Jalian Young's RBI single to first base provided the fourth run of the inning, giving the Lady Bears a 6-3 cushion after three innings of play.
 
S.C. State got a run back in the fourth inning when Tianna Thomas singled to right field to score Quantavia Coe, but the Lady Bears responded with five runs in the bottom half of the fourth, including a two-run double to center field hit by Mikaela Browdy to extend the lead to 10-4.
 
The Lady Bears' offense produced 13 runs on 12 hits and 11 RBI. Buehlman finished the game going 2-for-3 with a run and game-high 3 RBI, while Jalian Young recorded two hits in three at bats and had 2 RBI. Browdy also went 2-for-3 with two runs and 2 RBI and Haylee Bobos finished 2-for-2 with an RBI.  
 
Damali Young would finish the opening game of the series going 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored, an RBI and added two stolen bases, increasing that Morgan State record which she set last season, to 108 career stolen bases.