Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NORFOLK, Va. – George Washington came back from a four-run deficit, eventually scoring the winning runs in the top of the seventh to earn a doubleheader sweep of the Norfolk State softball team on Saturday afternoon. The Colonials won 9-1 in the first game before topping the Spartans 8-6 in game 2 in Norfolk State's season opener at the NSU Softball Field.
 
The Spartans could not get their offense going in game 1, tallying just three hits and scoring their lone run in the fifth in a five-inning contest. Norfolk State got a three-run home run from freshman Kylee Lopez as part of a six-run third inning in the second contest. The Colonials, though, scored in the last three innings of the game to secure the win.
 
GWU (2-5) got a big game from Paige Kovalsky in the first game. She hit 4-for-4 with two runs and four RBI, with three doubles among her four hits. Riley Tejcek also batted in three runs.
 
Kovalsky hit a two-run double to the wall in right center as part of a three-run first inning for GWU in the first game. She smacked a double to left center in her next at bat in the second inning, scoring two more runs for the Colonials to make it 5-0.
 
Megan Linn made it 6-0 in the third with an RBI single through the middle of the infield. Tejcek's two-run double into the left field corner made it 8-0 in the fourth, and GWU also scored a single run in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk.
 
After getting out of the inning with no more damage, NSU tacked on a run in the bottom of the fifth to prevent the shutout. With one out, freshman Shelby DesChamps hit a slow roller down the third base line. Before the ball rolled foul, third baseman Morgan Matetic picked it up and threw to first. DesChamps beat the throw and then went to second when the ball rolled down the line.
 
Junior Devon Bitler then followed with a double to deep center field to plate NSU's lone run of the game.
 
In game 2, Aiyana Leal-Robles belted a pitch up in the zone to the fence down the left field line to make it 1-0 in the second inning. Monica Macchiarulo's RBI double in the third plated another run before the Spartans unloaded in the bottom half of the frame.
 
Sophomore Seana Moriarty led off the inning with a double to right center, and one out later junior Kayla McNair walked to put two runners on base. Lopez then hammered a 1-1 pitch deep over the center field fence for put NSU ahead 3-2.
 
Back-to-back walks issued by GWU reliever Jayme Cone were followed by a slow dribbler to third base. The Colonials could not get the run out at third, and another run scored when the ball got away from the fielders. Then with two outs and both runners in scoring position, senior Heather Dunning lofted one to the left field wall to score the last two runs of the inning.
 
George Washington, though, got three of those runs back in the fifth inning. A pair of errors on NSU after a couple of bunt singles got the first run across, and the second came on a bases-loaded walk. A sacrifice fly by Leal-Robles made it 6-5.
 
Kovalsky's RBI double – her fourth two-bagger of the day – tied it up at 6-6 in the sixth inning. Then in the seventh, Rochelle Draper reached on an error and came home two outs later on Morgan Rinehart's double that just fell into right center and under the glove of a diving Dunning. Linn followed with an RBI single to make it 8-6.
 
NSU did threaten in the bottom of the seventh, as pinch hitter Hannah Haustein dropped a single into right center and sophomore Megan Przeslawski walked with one out to put two runners on base. DesChamps fought off close to 10 pitches with a 3-2 count before the Colonials got the out at third on a fielder's choice. The Spartans nearly tied it up on Bitler's line drive down the left field line, but GWU left fielder Macchiarulo made a nice catch on the run not far from the warning track to seal the win.
 
Moriarty and DesChamps were the only Spartan players to have two hits on the day, each with one in each game.
 
Sarah Costlow earned both wins for the Colonials, giving up three hits and one unearned run in the first game. She also allowed five hits and one earned run in 6.1 innings in game 2.
 
The Spartans will return to the field next Friday at Delaware to start the Blue Hen Blast Tournament.