Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – Norfolk State scored 18 runs on 18 hits to rebound in game 2 of a doubleheader with UMES on Thursday afternoon at Hawks Field. The Spartan softball team earned an 18-13 win over the Hawks after UMES had won game 1 in eight innings, 2-1.
 
NSU set its Division I records for combined runs and combined hits in the second contest, a game in which the Spartans had to rally after the Hawks put a nine-spot on the board in the third inning. The teams split the doubleheader to complete a conference series that had been postponed from early April.
 
Norfolk State itself scored the most runs and had its most hits in a game since an 18-1 victory in game 2 over Howard on March 31, 2014, a contest in which the Spartans piled up 20 base hits. In addition, NSU's seven doubles against UMES on Thursday tied the D-I record first set in mid-March and then tied on April 3 against UMES.
 
Sophomore Megan Przeslawski was one of several player to post a big day at the plate. She hit a solo home run in the seventh inning of game 1 to account for NSU's only run. She then drove in six runs while going 2-for-2 at the plate in the second game, including a grand slam in the first inning to help the Spartans pull ahead 9-1 to start the contest.
 
Her six RBI were a career-high and the most by a Spartan player since Robyn Mitchell and Kayla McNair each had six in separate games in March of 2014.
 
NSU, which had eight hits in the first game, seemed well on its way to a solid win in game 2. The Spartans scored five runs in the first inning and four more in the second for a 9-1 lead. The Hawks, though, sent 13 batters to the plate in the fourth, using a nine-run inning to go up by one.
 
The Spartans were not done, however, as they scored four in the fourth, three runs in the sixth and then two more in the seventh for the final margin. UMES, not to be outdone, had 16 hits in the game.
 
NSU ran its MEAC record to 9-5 and its overall mark to 15-20. The Hawks moved to 3-9 in conference play and 10-24 overall. Norfolk State maintained second place in the Northern Division but now has the same number of losses as third-place Hampton (7-5).
 
Senior Heather Dunning batted 3-for-6 with three runs and a career-high four RBI. McNair also had three hits in three at bats and finished with three runs and three RBI as well.
 
McNair walked with the bases loaded in the first inning, and Przeslawski followed with a grand slam to right center with no outs, her fourth homer of the year, to give herself a comfortable lead in the circle. In the second, Dunning hit an RBI double after junior Devon Bitler led off the inning with a walk. McNair doubled home Dunning, and a two-run single by Przeslawski made it 9-1.
 
The Hawks, though, got all of those runs back in the third. They had eight hits in the inning and scored five runs before NSU could even record an out. Tesharra Hill's two-run single marked the only two-RBI hit in the frame.
 
But it did not take NSU long to come back, as they scored four in the next half inning. Back-to-back doubles by sophomore Seana Moriarty and senior Whitney Williams began the fourth, and a walk followed by a single and error on the same play put NSU ahead. Junior Hannah Haustein and Dunning each had RBI singles later in the inning to give the Spartans a three-run lead.
 
UMES got two of those runs back in the fourth and then tied the game at 13-13 with an RBI single in the fifth. The Spartans, however, plated three in the sixth inning to take the lead for good. Dunning's double to center field scored both freshman Kylee Lopez and Bitler, and McNair added an RBI single later in the inning. Freshman Stephanie Davenport doubled in the seventh and scored on Lopez' second home run of the year.
 
Williams hit 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI after also batting 3-for-4 in the first game. The Spartans, though, could not get their offense going in that first contest, spreading eight hits over eight innings.
 
Ciara Schnyder's RBI single in the second inning of game 1 put the Hawks ahead 1-0. NSU finally broke through when Przeslawski lined a homer down the left field line to open the top of the seventh. Spartan starter Hunter Halford then pitched a 1-2-3 inning to force an extra frame.
 
NSU stranded runners in scoring position in the top of the eight, and UMES closed out the win in its half of the inning. Vanessa Gomez doubled to lead off the inning, and a bunt single put runners on the corners. The Spartans got two outs when Moriarty snagged a liner and turned an unassisted double play, but a wild pitch from Halford allowed Gomez to cross the plate.
 
Halford (4-6) suffered the loss – in addition to picking up the win in game 2 – after allowed seven hits and two runs, one earned, in 7.2 innings in game 1.
 
Adrienne Guerra (8-13), though, allowed eight hits and just one earned run while striking out seven in all eight innings.
 
NSU will have the weekend off from conference play and then play a non-conference doubleheader at UMBC next Wednesday.