ELON, N.C. – In what is becoming a habit, the Norfolk State softball team once again split a pair of games here in the early part of the season. On Saturday during the second day of the Elon Phoenix Tournament at Hunt Softball Park, the Spartans topped Fairleigh Dickinson before falling to host Elon to close out the weekend.
 
NSU topped FDU for the second day in a row, this time by a 7-1 margin. And once again, host Elon handed Norfolk State a loss to prevent a sweep of the day's games. The Phoenix shut out the Spartans 3-0 in a late Saturday afternoon contest.
 
The Spartans ran their record to 7-7 on the year. They have played on seven different game days this season and have gone 1-1 each time.
 
Sophomore Hunter Halford scattered six hits in all seven innings while allowing just one unearned run against FDU (1-13), improving her record to 5-3. The Spartans scored three runs in the first inning and four more in the third to provide her plenty of support.
 
Sophomore Kylee Lopez hit her third home run of the season in the first inning, a three-run blast to left field. The Knights got one run back in the second on an RBI double, but the Spartans broke the game open in the third.
 
Junior Seana Moriarty walked, and junior Jaylene Pryor singled to put two runners on. One out later, Lopez reached on a fielding error to make it 4-1. Senior Kayla McNair added a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, and junior Julianne Gillo delivered a two-run single later in the inning for the final scoring.
 
Halford only ran into trouble in the seventh when Fairleigh Dickinson hit three straight singles to load the bases with one out. But Halford got two grounders to third base in the next two at bats, and FDU was unable to get a run across in their last at bats of the game.
 
Lopez finished 1-for-4 with two runs and three RBI. Pryor and Moriarty each had two hits.
 
Pryor also went 3-for-4 in NSU's second game of the day, tallying half of the team's six hits against Elon (14-8).
 
Kiandra Mitchum (7-4) gave up five hits in five innings but also struck out seven to earn the win for the Phoenix. NSU junior starter Megan Przeslawski (2-4) pitched well in defeat, giving up six hits and three earned runs in six innings of work.
 
Elon's Kara Shutt batted 1-for-1 with two RBI, hitting an RBI double in the third and a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Carey Million's RBI single in the first had started the scoring for the Phoenix.
 
The Spartans will play a doubleheader at North Carolina Central on Tuesday beginning at 1 p.m. before starting official MEAC play next weekend.