Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NORFOLK, Va. – Jailynn Jackson shut out the Norfolk State softball team in game 1, and a seven-run first inning for Hampton in game 2 gave the Pirates a sweep of the Spartans on Saturday afternoon in a conference doubleheader at the NSU Softball Field.

In the last regular season series of the year, NSU celebrated Senior Day before the start of the first game, but the Spartan offense was shut out for the second MEAC game in a row, 6-0. Hampton scored seven in the first inning of the second game, and the Pirates eventually won 10-6 for the twinbill sweep.

The losses dropped the Spartans to 12-5 in conference play, and 19-23 overall, and locked them into the No. 3 seed in the MEAC Northern Division in next week's conference tournament.

Jackson (16-10) scattered five hits in game one, and the Pirates pulled away late. An error on a single put the Pirates up 1-0 in the third, and a sac fly and RBI double added two more runs in the fifth for Hampton (25-18, 13-3).

The Pirates added two more in the sixth on an infield single and a failed pickoff by the Spartans, and Taylor McCoy hit the first of her two homers on the day in the seventh for the final scoring of the first game.

Hampton scored seven in the first inning of game 2, highlighted by a two-run single by Diamond Ponds and a two-run double off the bat of Margaret Wilkins.

NSU's offense did get going, tallying 14 hits in the contest. Freshman Kayla McNair hit an RBI groundout in the bottom of the first, and freshman Mikki Haury hit an infield single a little later in the inning to get NSU on the board.

After the Pirates scored three more in the third for a 10-2 lead, the Spartans answered with two in the bottom half of the frame.

Sophomore Whitney Williams and senior Nikki Jones singled to put two runners on with one out, and senior Kathy Cortez doubled to the wall in left center to score both.

Then in the sixth, the Spartans cut into the deficit a little more. Junior Alina Moriarty doubled to lead off the inning and went to third on a single by Williams. An error on Hampton scored the first run, and Jones hit an RBI single to make it 10-6.

But the Spartans left two runners on and could not get any closer. NSU left 12 runners on base in game 2 and 18 altogether on the day.

Moriarty and Williams each had three hits in the second contest, and Moriarty finished the day 4-for-8. Cortez went 4-for-7 with a pair of hits in each game.

Senior Stephanie Wheatley gave up six hits and two earned runs over a combined 6.1 innings of relief in both games.

The two teams will finish out the series with a single game at noon on Sunday.