Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The Norfolk State softball team used a 10-run third inning to down UMES, 19-1, in five innings before earning a 3-1, eight-inning victory in Game 2 Wednesday afternoon in a non-conference doubleheader at Lady Hawks Field.

Six players had at least two hits in the first game for the Spartans, while junior Casey Pomeroy limited the Hawks to just one earned run as she picked up the victory. In Game 2, freshman pitcher Jamie Schulle held UMES in check for all eight innings, and NSU pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the eighth for the season sweep.

Pomeroy (7-8) gave up three hits and struck out three in five innings for the Game 1 victory. Schulle (4-9) allowed just five hits and one unearned run with seven strikeouts in all eight innings in Game 2. NSU improved its record to 14-23 overall on the season, while UMES fell to 6-34. NSU won all five meeting against the Hawks this year.

Junior Whitney Holland led the NSU offensive onslaught early on, going 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBI in the first game, while freshman Morgan Boyd went 4-for-5 with two runs and three RBI. Senior Jeanette Sauceda, junior Danielle Wright and freshman Nikki Jones each added three hits and three runs scored, while junior Candice Vasquez added three RBI. NSU had 22 hits in five innings of play.

Carmen Gurrola (3-17) pitched well for the Hawks in Game 2, giving up seven hits and three runs to keep UMES in the game. Luckily for the Spartans, Schulle matched Gurrola's performance with her best outing of the year, and Wright's one-out double in the top of the eighth scored the winning run for NSU. Freshman Melina Valles went 3-for-4 in Game 2, while Wright scored a pair of runs.

NSU took a 3-1 lead in the top of the second, as Vasquez hit an RBI groundout and sophomore Gipsy Ramirez came home on an error on UMES right fielder Chelsea Myers. Freshman Kathy Cortez scored on a wild pitch, but after Amber Corrigan got out of the inning with no more damage, NSU did plenty of damage an inning later.

Sauceda doubled and later scored on a throwing error by Gurrola at third, and back-to-back singles by Vasquez and Cortez made it 6-1. After Wright was hit by the pitch to load the bases, Boyd cleared them with a three-run triple to right center. She then scored on a wild pitch for a 10-1 NSU lead, but the Spartans were not done yet.

Sauceda singled to center to move Valles up to second, and Holland brought both of them home as she hit a two-run single to center. Singles by Jones and Vasquez scored Holland, but UMES finally got out of the inning when Cortez flied out to right. NSU plated 10 runs on nine hits in the third inning.

The Spartans went right back to work in the top of the fourth, as Wright and Boyd led off the frame with a pair of one-baggers. Both runners came home when left fielder Corrigan could not handle the hit off the bat of Sauceda, and Holland followed that up with a two-run home run to center field. In the very next at bat, Jones hit a 2-2 pitch over the left center field wall to put NSU up, 18-1.

Sauceda capped the scoring with an RBI single into right field in the top of the fifth for the final 19-1 margin. Corrigan (3-17) suffered the loss for UMES, allowing 10 runs, seven earned, on 10 hits in 2.1 innings. Shanice Crowder gave up eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits in 1.0 innings, while Gurrola pitched the last 1.2 innings and allowed just one run to cross the plate.

Schulle and Gurrola were locked in a pitcher's duel throughout the second game, and UMES threatened in the bottom of the third inning before stranding runners in scoring position when the Hawks' best hitter, Charlise Castro, flied out to center.

In the top of the fifth, Ramirez singled and advanced to second with two outs, but left fielder Cy'Anna Scott kept NSU off the scoreboard as she threw out Ramirez at home when Cortez lined a single to left. Scott scored in the bottom half of the fifth when Lisa Bates singled to center with two outs as UMES took the 1-0 lead.

NSU tied it up in the sixth, as Wright walked, went to third on a single by Valles and scored on a sacrifice fly to center off the bat of Sauceda. Schulle overcame a leadoff double by Castro in the bottom of the sixth, and then NSU took the lead for good in the eighth.

Wright doubled to left center to score Pomeroy, who was placed on second to start the frame, and after a bunt single by Boyd moved Wright to third, Valles lined one into left field to make it 3-1 in favor of NSU. Gurrola retired Sauceda and Holland to get out of the inning, and Schulle struck out Bates and got Corrigan and Castro to ground out in the bottom of the eighth to give NSU the win.

The Spartans will attempt to lock up their spot in the MEAC tournament this weekend with a three-game series against North Carolina A&T. The two teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. and then finish things up with a single game Sunday at noon.