Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. – Nine runs in the first two innings gave the Norfolk State softball team a 9-0 win over Hampton before the Pirates held on for a 5-4 victory as the two local rivals split a doubleheader Thursday evening at the NSU Softball Field.

NSU (5-12) scored three runs in the first inning of Game 1 before plating six more runs in the second inning for the five-inning victory. A big five-run fifth inning – aided by three Spartan errors – allowed the Pirates (7-18) to take Game 2 despite NSU's comeback attempt.

Junior Casey Pomeroy (3-3) picked up the shutout win in Game 1, giving up four hits with three strikeouts in five innings. Pomeroy and freshman first baseman Melina Valles each added a pair of RBI as NSU posted 10 hits in just 23 at bats.

Freshman Jamie Schulle (1-5) suffered the loss in Game 2, giving up five runs, just two earned, on seven hits in all seven innings. Tiffany Brents earned her second win of the season for Hampton, allowing seven hits and four earned runs in five innings.

Junior Whitney Holland led NSU with three RBI in the second game, including her first home run of the season, a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth. Sophomore shortstop Gipsy Ramirez hit her first collegiate home run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to one, 5-4, but the Spartans were unable to push across the tying run as they fell in the nightcap.

Holland, freshman catcher Kathy Cortez and senior left fielder Jeanette Sauceda each scored two runs in Game 1 as the Spartans got their offense clicking early. A single to left field by Wright and back-to-back walks by Cortez and Holland loaded the bases with no outs to open the bottom of the first. Wright was thrown out at home on a fielder's choice, but one out later Pomeroy line a single down the right field line to give NSU a 2-0 lead.

Senior Alyssa Velazquez reached on a fielding error by the Hampton shortstop as Sauceda came home for the third run of the inning.

Freshman right fielder Morgan Boyd opened up the second inning with a bunt single and came around to score two batters later when Cortez lined a single into center field. Wright, who had reached on an error, also scored when the ball got away from the Hampton catcher. An infield single by Holland brought Cortez home for a 6-0 NSU lead.

After Sauceda hit a one-bagger into center field, Valles brought home Holland and Sauceda with yet another single to center. Tiffany Brents came in to pitch for Hampton and retired the next two batters before Ramirez singled into right field to score Valles and give the Spartans the insurmountable 9-0 lead.

Hampton did not go quietly, leaving two runners in scoring position in the third inning after Wright had thrown out Pirate left fielder Adrianna Scott at the plate on a single to center. The Pirates stranded two more runners in the fourth inning and loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth. Holland threw out the runner at home on a hit to third base for the first out, and then a 1-2-3 double play ended the Pirate threat in the very next at bat.

Travonna Byrd dropped to 2-10 on the year after giving up all nine runs, six of them earned, on seven hits in 1.0+ innings for the Pirates. Hampton stranded nine runners in the game. Boyd and Valles each had two hits for the Spartans.

NSU, though, committed five errors in Game 2, three during the all-important fifth inning as Hampton earned the doubleheader split. Schulle pitched well, working out of a pair of jams in the third and fourth inning as the Pirates left two runners on in each inning.

NSU, meanwhile, took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third as Wright walked, stole second, then advanced to third on a single by Cortez before scoring on a fielder's choice off the bat of Holland. NSU loaded the bases after that with just one out, but Brents struck out Valles and forced Pomeroy to hit into a fielder's choice as NSU left the bases loaded.

Then, in the fifth, a pair of errors allowed Brents to get to third base with one out. Center fielder Tamara Vickers doubled to score Brents, and a hit back to the pitcher eventually scored two more runs as NSU threw the ball around the infield attempting to get the runners out. Another fielding error on NSU with the bases loaded allowed the last two runs to cross the plate for Hampton as the Pirates took a 5-1 lead.

NSU battled back, though, as Cortez lined a one-out single to right field before Holland launched her first home run over the left field fence to make it 5-3 in favor of Hampton. NSU put the next two runners on with just one out, but a line-out double play ended the threat.

Ramirez opened up the sixth inning with her first collegiate homer, a shot deep into center field, but NSU stranded Boyd at second base to end the sixth and went 1-2-3 in the seventh inning to give Hampton the victory. Wright and Boyd combined for six stolen bases as NSU finished a perfect 7-of-7 on stolen base attempts in the two games.

The Spartans will continue their homestand as they host Savannah State next Monday at 1 p.m. at the NSU Softball Field.