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ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – Freshman Whitney Williams belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Norfolk State softball team a 5-3 win over Coppin State Thursday afternoon in the loser's bracket of the MEAC tournament at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.

NSU stayed alive in the tournament and advanced to face Florida A&M on Friday at 10 a.m.

After falling to Savannah State earlier in the day, the Spartans looked to be in trouble of going 0-2 at the tournament. Coppin State's Alyssa Barker kept NSU scoreless for six innings before the Spartans rallied with three runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.

Junior Melina Valles and senior Gipsy Ramirez blooped a couple of singles into left center, and junior Morgan Boyd laid down a bunt single to load the bases. Freshman Heather Dunning dropped one over the third baseman's head down the left field line to score one, and sophomore Alina Moriarty followed with a hit in nearly the exact same spot to score two more.

Still with no outs, Melli Richardson came in to relieve Barker and got a pair of infield pop ups and a strikeout to send the game into extra innings.

Dunning singled into left field to open the ninth, and one out later Williams launched one over the left-center field fence to keep NSU's season alive.

NSU improved to 27-21 overall, setting the program's Division I record for the most wins in a season.

Coppin State (16-25) went up by a 3-0 score early in the game after Lauren Rogers hit an RBI groundout in the second and pinch hitter Samantha Denlinger smacked a two-run single through the box in the fourth.

Junior Jamie Schulle (17-12) picked up the win, pitching 5.2 innings of scoreless relief while allowing just two hits. She tied NSU's D-I record with her 17th win of the season. Richardson saw her record fall to 5-11 this year for Coppin State.

After going 4-for-4 in the loss to Savannah State, Dunning went 3-for-5 against the Eagles. Senior Gipsy Ramirez also had a pair of hits against Coppin State.