Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State and Coppin State softball teams played a little home run derby late Sunday morning at the NSU Softball Field, and the Spartans continued their hot streak at the plate with 22 hits in a 16-9 victory.

The win, its fifth in a row, gave NSU a sweep of the three-game series with Coppin State and improved the Spartans' record to 9-13 overall and 3-0 in the MEAC. CSU fell to 3-11 and 0-3.

The teams combined for six home runs on a day when the wind was blowing out to right field by almost 20 mph. Sophomore Heather Dunning was the benefactor of that strong gust, as she hit her first career homer as part of a 5-for-5 day with four runs and three RBI.

Senior Morgan Boyd batted 5-for-5 as well with five runs and two stolen bases, while freshman Kayla McNair knocked home five runs as part of a 4-for-5 effort.

Norfolk State had its most hits in a game since tallying 22 at UMES on April 27, 2011.

The Spartans scored exactly three runs in five of the six innings they came to the plate, and they chased CSU starter Alyssa Barker after just two at bats in the first.

A bunt single and then an RBI double by Barker gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead to start the game, but NSU responded in the bottom of the frame. Boyd singled to third base and scored all the way from there when a bad throw on the putout attempt scooted down the right field line. Dunning then followed with her homer to right center – eliciting a hands-over-mouth, shocked response from the lefty as she rounded the bases – to chase Barker.

With junior Alina Moriarty on first with one out, McNair hit one past the first baseman to put runners on the corners. Another error on CSU brought home another run before relief pitcher Candice Van Horn (0-1) got out of the jam.

After two errors on the Spartans put two runners on to start the second, Van Horn followed with a three-run shot to give CSU the lead back, 5-3.  NSU again had the answer, as Boyd hit an infield single and then stole second and third bases before coming home on a single by Dunning. She then stole second and came home on a bloop single by Moriarty down the left field line.

McNair knocked a double to the left center field wall to give the Spartans a 6-5 lead.

Boyd dropped an RBI single into left center in the third inning to continue the scoring, and Dunning beat out a hit to the first baseman to load the bases. Junior Robyn Mitchell plated one run on an RBI groundout, and Moriarty singled through the hole between short and third for the third run of the frame.

Williams launched a homer over the right center field fence in the fourth, and after CSU got that run back in the fifth, NSU added three more runs. With the defense playing way in, Boyd surprised the Eagle players by smacking one all the way to the wall for a triple, her first extra-base hit in three years.

Dunning's infield single scored Boyd, and two outs later McNair blasted one off the light pole in right center. A three-run homer by Kimberlynn Brown in the sixth got CSU to within 13-9, but the Spartans continued to pour it on in the bottom half of the sixth.

Singles by freshman Mikki Haury and Boyd put the first two runners on, and Dunning dropped one into center field to load the bases. Moriarty singled to center for one run, and McNair followed with a double to deep left center for the final two runs of the game.

Moriarty finished 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBI.

Senior Stephanie Wheatley (2-4) got the win in relief for the second game in a row, allowing four runs, three earned, on three hits with three strikeouts in six innings.

The Spartans will hit the road to take on Howard next weekend.