Box Score

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman snapped Norfolk State's 13-game win streak in a 6-3 victory over the Spartans in the second round of the MEAC Softball Championship Thursday evening at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.

NSU will play Coppin State Friday at 10 a.m. in the loser's bracket in the double-elimination tournament. The Spartans fell to 23-24 overall on the season, while the Wildcats improved to 30-23 and advanced to face Florida A&M for a chance to get to the championship game.

Junior Danielle Wright went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, while freshman Morgan Boyd and junior Whitney Holland each added two hits. Freshman Jamie Schulle (6-10) suffered the loss, giving up three earned runs on five hits in 1.2 innings.

Allison Garcia (23-10) picked up the win for B-CU, giving up three runs, two earned, on nine hits with five strikeouts. Ashton Hinds, Aurelia Gamch and Cesley Tafoya each added two hits to the Wildcat attack, while Tafoya also drove in a pair of runs.

NSU took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Wright tripled past a diving Simone Ceasar in right field to open the game. Freshman Melina Valles hit an RBI groundout to third with one out to score Wright for the early advantage.

Gamch and Garcia singled with one out in the bottom of the first, and an RBI single by Tafoya and a sacrifice fly by Kelsey Rodney gave the Wildcats a 2-1 lead after one full inning. Gamch hit an RBI double in the second before NSU tallied one back in the top of the third. Wright singled off the glove of Ceasar in right, stole second, and then came home on a throwing error on first baseman Joanna Hernandez for a 3-2 B-CU lead.

The Spartans got no closer, as B-CU tallied a single run in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings for a 6-2 advantage. NSU threatened in the fifth, as freshman Kathy Cortez, Boyd and Valles singled to load the bases before Garcia got senior Jeanette Sauceda swinging for the third out of the frame. The teams left a combined 19 runners on base.

NSU scored the last run of the game in the top of the seventh, as Boyd singled to left field and went to second when Michelle Banuelos-Smith bobbled the ball. Holland smoked one past Rodney at third to bring home Boyd for the final 6-3 margin.