Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NORFOLK, Va. – Senior Kathy Cortez hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth to complete a late-game comeback and give the Norfolk State softball team a split of a doubleheader against North Carolina Central on Saturday afternoon at the NSU Softball Field.

The Eagles were headed to a twinbill sweep, winning the first game 5-2 and leading the second contest, 3-1, heading into the bottom of the seventh. NSU rallied with two runs in the seventh and then ended the game in walk-off style in the eighth for a 4-3 victory.

In a matchup that officially counted as a non-conference doubleheader, NSU (19-21) struggled on offense thanks to NCCU pitcher London Booker. She pitched both games and struck out 18 altogether. The Spartans, though, finished with nine hits in game 2 and finally got going late.

NCCU (8-33) tallied an insurance run in the seventh for a 3-1 edge, but the Spartans forced extra innings. Senior Morgan Boyd singled to short with one out, and sophomore Heather Dunning followed with a single through the right side. Junior Alina Moriarty poked a double over the right fielder's head to score both and tie it up.

The Spartans had a chance to win it when sophomore Whitney Williams hit a chopper over the third baseman, but Moriarty was thrown out at home trying to score from second.

In the eighth, junior Liz Riley got out of the inning without allowing a run despite NCCU having a runner on second to start the inning due to international tiebreaker rules.

NSU started off the same in its half of the frame, and pinch runner Mikki Haury went to third on a sac bunt attempt by senior Nikki Jones. She safely reached first on an error on the throw, and then Cortez hit one to deep left field that easily scored Haury for the winning run.

Riley (2-5) gave up 10 hits but allowed just three runs, one earned, with six strikeouts for the win.

Jones gave NSU an early 1-0 lead when she lofted a single down the right field line in the bottom of the first. That came after Dunning had reached on a bunt single and Williams hit a shot right off the third baseman to put a pair of runners on.

The Eagles responded by scoring two unearned runs in the second for a 2-1 lead. A single and an error put runners on second and third, and one run came home on a ball hit right in front of the plate. The Eagles then got the call at first on a bang-bang play, allowing the second run of the inning to score.

Booker (6-20) struck out six and gave up nine hits and four runs, three earned, in all 7.1 innings for the loss.

She also struck out 12 and scattered seven hits while giving up two earned runs in game 1. The Eagle offense, meanwhile, scored all five of its runs in the second and third innings.

Two scored in the second, including one on a hit batter with the bases loaded and a second on a sac fly to left. In the third, Emerie Germ hit a solo homer to straight-away center field, and NCCU tacked on two more runs on a pair of RBI hits.

The Spartans finally broke through in the fifth inning, when Cortez and junior Sommer Di Fulgo hit back-to-back doubles to the right-center field wall. Williams hit a solo homer in the seventh for the final scoring of game 1.

Williams went 3-for-4 in game 2 and had four hits over the course of the day. Her home run was NSU's 35th of the year, tying the program's fastpitch record for homers in a season.

Dunning went 2-for-4 with two runs scored in the second game as well and had three hits on the afternoon.

NSU will host Hampton next weekend for the final regular season games of the year. Next Saturday will also be Senior Day, as the Spartans will honor their departing players before the doubleheader at 1 p.m.