Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NEWARK, Del. – The Norfolk State softball team was shut out during the first two days of the Delaware Invitational Friday and Saturday. Villanova held the Spartans to just three hits in a 4-0 win on Friday afternoon, while host Delaware gave up just four NSU hits during a 2-0 victory Saturday morning at the Delaware Softball Stadium.

Freshman Haley Ward had three of the team's seven hits in the first two games of the tournament, but NSU still dropped to 8-8 overall on the season. Villanova ran its record to 12-4, while Delaware improved to 4-20 this year.

Sophomore Jamie Schulle (5-3) suffered the loss against Villanova, allowing four earned runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings of work. Freshman Liz Riley (3-5) threw a scoreless 1.1 innings of relief and then made a solid start the next morning against the Blue Hens, allowing both earned runs on six hits in 4.2 innings. Like Riley on Friday, Schulle threw 1.1 scoreless innings in relief on Saturday.

An RBI single by Krisi Burlin put Villanova up 1-0 in the bottom of the first, but Schulle worked out of a bases loaded jam in the second to keep the deficit at one. Beth Smetana socked a two-run double to the right-center field gap in the fourth to extend the lead to 3-0. Back-to-back doubles by Briana Fujii and Amanda Marquez chased Schulle in the fifth, but Riley got out of the inning with no more damage done.

Ward's double in the third, one of her two hits against the Wildcats, marked the only base runner to advance into scoring position for the Spartans on the afternoon.

Molly Manning (6-1) earned the win for Villanova, striking out four and giving up three hits in five innings.

Riley got out of a jam in the bottom of the first against Delaware in the first game of the day on Saturday, getting a strike out and a foul out to leave two Blue Hen runners in scoring position. Delaware left two more on in the second and then one runner in each of the third and fourth frames before breaking through in the fifth.

Jess Grisler doubled to center field to get things going, and Michelle McKinnon followed with a single to center to score the first run of the game. After a bunt single put runners on first and second, NSU got the lead runner on a bunt by Gina Knutson. A wild pitch moved the runners up a base, and Alicea Coy flew out to Marjorie Pettitt in left in foul territory to make it 2-0.

The Spartans had their best chance to score in the next half inning when Moriarty doubled to lead off the sixth. Senior Whitney Holland walked with one out, and sophomore Nikki Jones singled into left field with two away to load the bases. Chenxi Jiao got Pettitt to line back to the circle to end the threat and then secured a 1-2-3 seventh inning for the win.

Jiao pitching all seven innings and struck out seven while allowing four hits to pick up her first victory of the season.

NSU will finish up the tournament Sunday against Western Michigan at 9 a.m. and LaSalle at 1:30 p.m.