Box Score DOVER, Del. – Delaware State scored all 11 of its runs in the first three innings on the way to an 11-9 victory over the Norfolk State softball team on Friday afternoon in the first game of a three-game conference series at Hornets' Nest field.
 
DSU plated four runs in the first, two in the second and then its final five runs in the fifth. After the Spartans added three runs in the top of the fourth, neither team scored over the last three innings of the contest.
 
Rochelle Sablay hit 3-for-4 with three runs and four RBI to lead Delaware State (10-13, 3-1 MEAC). Senior Whitney Williams, sophomore Megan Przeslawski and freshman Stephanie Davenport each had three RBI for NSU, which dropped to 8-13 overall and 3-1 in conference play.
 
Williams got NSU off to a strong start, hitting a one out, two-run home run in the top of the first for an early Spartan lead. But the Hornets wasted little time getting their offense going. With two outs in the bottom of the first, DSU used five straight hits to score four runs and eventually chase NSU starter Marissa Marrero.
 
Sandy Hawthorne hit a solo home run in the second, and another RBI single for DSU made it 6-2.
 
The Spartans tied it up with four runs in the third. The first run scored on a strikeout when the ball got away from the Hornets. Przeslawski then came to the plate and smacked a three-run homer to left field to make it 6-6.
 
Delaware State responded with its final five runs in the bottom of the frame. Sablay belted a three-run double to highlight the inning, and Vanessa Washington followed with a two-run home run to left to cap DSU's scoring in the game.
 
The Hornets had 14 hits in the game but just one hit in their last three innings.
 
NSU, meanwhile, got to within two with three runs in the fourth but was unable to push another run across in the last three innings. In that fourth inning, a single by junior Hannah Haustein and an error on DSU put runners on second and third. Williams later hit an RBI groundout, and Davenport scored the last runs of the game with a two-run double.
 
The Spartans left two runners on base in both the fifth and sixth innings.
 
Williams and Przeslawski each hit 2-for-3 in the game, while Haustein also had a pair of hits. Sophomore Seana Moriarty scored three runs for NSU as well.
 
The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.