Box Score ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – After a lengthy delay that postponed the game overnight, the Norfolk State softball team survived Savannah State's comeback attempt and advanced to the championship round of the MEAC tournament with a 5-4 win over the Tigers on Saturday morning at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.

The victory propelled the Spartans into the final, where they will take on Hampton at 11 a.m. The Spartans need to win twice to capture the conference title, while Hampton just needs to win once.

The Spartans advanced to the championship round of the MEAC tournament for just the second time in their history. NSU also got to the final in 2008.

NSU (30-21) seemingly had the game in control on Friday night, putting five runs on the board in the first two innings to take a 5-0 lead over the Tigers. But after the Tigers made it 5-1, a pair of delays held up the game, the latter one forcing the contest to be postponed until Saturday morning at 9 a.m.

From there, the Tigers plated three in the sixth, but NSU shut down Savannah State (26-24) in the seventh to hold on for the win.

Junior Jamie Schulle (20-12) earned the win, working around 10 walks while allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits in 6.1 innings of work. Sophomore Liz Riley earned the save by getting the last two outs of the seventh inning.

In a game that started at 6 p.m. on Friday, NSU quickly got out in front with three runs in the top of the first. Freshman Heather Dunning lined a shot past a drawn-in infield, and sophomore Alina Moriarty blooped one over the shorstop's head in shallow left center. Savannah State starter Madison Hedderly got the next two outs before walking junior Kathy Cortez to load the bases.

Sophomore Robyn Mitchell followed with a double to the wall in right center to clear the bases. Then in the second, NSU added two more. Senior Gipsy Ramirez doubled to left center and junior Morgan Boyd followed with a bunt single. The Tigers misplayed the ball at first on the bunt, allowing Ramirez to come home and Boyd to move to second.

Boyd went to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly to shallow right center for a 5-0 Spartan lead.

The Tigers made it 5-1 with a run in the fourth, but after a 35-minute rain delay, Schulle came back and got out of a bases-loaded jam. Then in the bottom of the fifth, lightning delayed the contest until Saturday morning.

Once play resumed, the Tigers cut the deficit to 5-4 in the sixth thanks in part to three walks issued during the inning. A fielder's choice with the bases loaded scored one run, and Amber Hallman hit a single into left to plate two more. Schulle got out of the inning when Boyd made a catch at the wall on a deep shot by Torrian Wright.

Dunning, Moriarty, Ramirez and Boyd each had two hits for NSU. Mitchell drove in those three runs with her bases-clearing double.

Hedderly (20-11) gave up five runs, four earned, on nine hits with four strikeouts in all seven innings of work.