Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The Norfolk State softball team scored three runs in the top of the eighth in game 2 to salvage a split against UMES on Saturday afternoon in a conference doubleheader at Lady Hawks Field.

The Spartans came away with a 5-2 win after dropping the opening contest of the day, 6-3. NSU, which entered the weekend in first place in the MEAC Northern Division, improved to 6-1 in conference play and 12-16 overall on the year.

NSU, though, had to escape a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the sixth in that second game, when the Hawks threatened to break a 2-2 tie. With one out, Vanessa Gomez flied out to center, and senior Morgan Boyd threw out Ciara Schnyder at home to end the inning.

The Spartans left runners on second and third in the seventh but finally broke the tie in the eighth. Junior Robyn Mitchell and freshman Kayla McNair opened the inning with a pair of singles, and sophomore Whitney Williams plated two runs on a double to left field.

After a pitching change, freshman Mikki Haury doubled to score Williams, and UMES (7-29, 4-3 MEAC) left two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the eighth to close out the day.

McNair's sac fly in the first inning got NSU on the board in game 2, and Haury also hit a sac fly in the fourth for a 2-0 lead. UMES scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth on a couple of NSU errors to tie it up.

Senior Jamie Schulle (10-6), who took the loss in game 1, rebounded to earn the win in the second contest. She pitched all eight innings and worked around seven hits and six walks while allowing two unearned runs.

She also gave up six runs, but just two earned, on eight hits in six innings in the first game. The Spartan offense mustered just six hits.

NSU started off strong, as Mitchell's sac fly and McNair's solo homer in the first put the Spartans up 2-0. Three errors on NSU, though, in the second inning allowed four runs to cross the plate for UMES.

The Hawks made it 5-2 with an RBI groundout in the third. The Spartans got a run back in the fourth on Haury's first RBI double of the day, but the Hawks added an insurance run in the sixth to complete the scoring.

Alexis Hudson had four hits in the two games for UMES. Abria Tinsley got the win for the Hawks in the first contest after pitching six innings and allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits with four strikeouts.

McNair went 4-for-5 over the course of the day with two runs and two RBI. Haury drove in three runs on the afternoon.

The two teams will finish out the series Sunday at noon.