Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. – Jeanette Sauceda added six RBI as the Norfolk State softball team defeated UMES, 9-2, and the Spartans completed the sweep with an 8-0 victory in Game 2 of a Thursday afternoon doubleheader at the NSU Softball Field.

Sauceda went 3-for-4 with two runs scored in the first game and hit a grand slam to break open the game in the fourth inning. Junior Casey Pomeroy pitched six shutout innings while giving up just three hits and striking out seven in the second game. NSU ran its record to 12-23 overall on the season, while UMES fell to 6-30.

Freshman Jamie Schulle (3-9) earned the victory in the first game, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts. Freshman Melina Valles went 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored, while junior Danielle Wright posted a 2-for-4 game with two runs and two RBI.

In Game 2, sophomore Gipsy Ramirez and freshman Alexa Fleming each added two RBI, while junior Whitney Holland and freshman Morgan Boyd scored a pair of runs. Boyd also stole a pair of bases on the day.

Amber Corrigan (3-15) took the loss in the first game for UMES, allowing seven earned runs on 11 hits. Carmen Gurrola (3-15) allowed seven runs, five earned, on seven hits in five innings in Game 2. The Hawk pitchers managed just two strikeouts combined in the two games.

Wright launched the first pitch she saw in the first game over the center field fence and three batters later cleanup hitter Sauceda singled in Boyd as NSU took an early 2-0 lead after the first inning. Gurrola singled with two outs to score Charlise Castro in the third inning, and then the Spartans put a five spot on the board in the bottom of the fourth.

Ramirez and freshman Kathy Cortez singled to open the inning, and then Wright brought home Ramirez with a single down the left field line. Valles knocked one back up the middle one out later to load the bases before Sauceda lined a 2-0 pitch to center field to give the Spartans a 7-1 lead.

Valles singled with two outs in the sixth inning, and then back-to-back doubles by Sauceda and Holland out to the right field fence made it 9-2 in favor of the Spartans. The Hawks stranded nine runners in Game 1, including a pair in both the first and third innings.

In the second game, Pomeroy (6-8) stranded two UMES runners in both the second and fourth innings before NSU's bats came alive in the bottom half of the fourth. Boyd scored on a wild pitch with two outs, and Ramirez doubled home Holland for a 2-0 lead. Ramirez scored on a throwing error on UMES shortstop Jasmine James, and Fleming singled home Pomeroy for a 4-0 advantage.

Boyd scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Holland in the bottom of the fifth, and Ramirez knocked home another run with a shot up the middle. After Pomeroy singled to load the bases, Fleming drew a bases loaded walk to make it 7-0. Valles hit an RBI single to center field in the bottom of the sixth to end the game.

NSU will be back in action against UMES next Wednesday for a doubleheader in Princess Anne, Md., at 1 p.m.