Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to come away with a 4-2 victory in the opening game of a doubleheader against North Carolina A&T. The Aggies then evened things out with a 6-4 win in the second game on Friday afternoon at the NSU Softball Field.

Junior Alina Moriarty hit a two-run homer, and NSU manufactured two more runs in the sixth in the first game. A five-run second inning allowed North Carolina A&T to pull ahead in game 2, and NSU's comeback in the seventh fell short.

In that first game of the afternoon, the Spartans (4-13) had a chance to score in the second, but with the bases loaded and one out, Aggie starter Janika May retired the next two batters to end the threat. A&T (6-11) then loaded the bases with one out in the third thanks to three singles, and a hit-batter and a walk scored the first two runs of the game.

The Spartans answered right back when sophomore Whitney Williams lined one past the shortstop, and Moriarty followed with a seemingly effortless swing that put the ball into the bushes beyond right field.

NSU starter Jamie Schulle (4-5) got out of a jam in the fourth, and two innings later the Spartans went ahead for good. Freshman Kayla McNair got plunked by the pitch, and junior Robyn Mitchell lofted a double over the left fielder's head. Two outs later, a walk loaded the bases, and the winning run came home when A&T third baseman Alexiss Dominguez fumbled a slow roller down the line.

Pinch hitter Nikki Jones then drew a walk to score an insurance run.

Schulle pitched all seven innings, allowing six hits and two earned runs. She also pitched 5.2 innings in relief in the second game, striking out seven without allowing a run.

The Aggies, though, had already done their damage in the first and second innings of game 2.

It began in the first when Haley Snyder singled home a run and continued in the second, although errors on the Spartans meant all five runs that scored in the frame were unearned.

Two errors and a walk loaded the bases, and a third error in the inning brought home two runs. Dasia Moore followed with a two-run single, and a fielder's choice scored one more run. Schulle got out of the inning when the Spartans turned a double play with runners on first and second.

NSU got two runs back in the bottom of the inning, both thanks to an error on Dominguez. A&T, which left 10 runners on base, threatened to add to its lead over the next several innings, but Schulle continued to keep the Spartans in the game.

In the seventh, junior Sommer Di Fulgo blasted a homer to center field to lead off the inning, and junior Heather Dunning singled and scored when Aggie catcher Sabrina Edmonds threw the ball away on a bunt attempt by junior Morgan Boyd.

A&T starter Maiven McKnight, though, retired two of NSU's most dangerous hitters, Williams and Moriarty, to give the Aggies a split of the twinbill. McKnight (3-2) gave up six hits and four runs, but just one earned.

Dunning and freshman Devon Bitler each had three hits on the day.

NSU will host North Carolina Central for a doubleheader on Tuesday at 4 p.m.