NORFOLK, Va. – Delaware State rallied for three runs in the seventh inning to pull out a 4-3 victory over the Norfolk State softball team in game 1 on Saturday afternoon at the NSU Softball Field. The Spartans had a response in game two of the doubleheader, getting four RBI from sophomore Hunter Halford to earn a 7-2 victory.
 
NSU ran its overall record to 8-8 and its MEAC mark to 1-1 in the opening conference games of the year for the Spartans. They pounded out 10 hits in the second contest to support junior starter Megan Przeslawski.
 
She pitched all seven innings, giving up four hits and two earned runs to improve her record to 3-4. The Spartans, meanwhile, scored four runs in the second inning and three runs in the fourth.
 
The Hornets (4-16, 3-1 MEAC) actually took the lead first in game 2, using a pair of doubles in the first inning for the first run and getting a solo homer from Micaela Cummings in the second for a 2-0 lead. It did not last, however, as NSU came right back to score four runs in the bottom of the frame.
 
Senior Kayla McNair hit a solo homer to left center with one out to start the rally, and juniors Jaylene Pryor and Julianne Gillo each singled into shallow left field to put two runners on base.
 
Senior Devon Bitler hit a single to the wall in left center to score Pryor, who had to wait to see if the ball would be caught. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Halford delivered a two-run single off the edge of the glove of second baseman Jasmine Melgoza for a 4-2 advantage.
 
The lead extended to 7-2 in the fourth. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases, and Halford doubled toward the right field corner to score a pair of runs. Pinch hitter Shelby DesChamps then hit an infield single to bring home freshman Meaghan Barfield, who had walked three batters earlier.
 
Przeslawski, meanwhile, recorded 12 straight outs at one point and allowed just two runners in the last five innings of the game, one on a hit batter that just grazed the jersey and one on a walk.
 
Game 1 was also going NSU's way, at least until the seventh. Down 3-1, the Hornets tallied three runs for the lead for good.
 
Khaliyah Flournory had hit a solo homer in the fifth inning to break up the shutout. Then in the seventh, three straight singles scored one run, and two more came home on a single and error on the same play on a hit by Danielle Velez to right field.
 
The Spartans got a pair of singles in the bottom of the seventh but could not convert.
 
They did, however, strike first on the afternoon with a run in the bottom of the first inning. A pair of walks put runners on first and second, and Bitler scored when Halford lined a single to the wall in center field.
 
In the fourth, sophomore Kylee Lopez singled to lead off the inning, and Barfield followed with a moonshot over the left-center field fence. It marked the first homer of her career.
 
Halford (5-4) suffered the loss after allowing nine hits in six-plus innings and four runs, three earned.
 
Hannah Shields (2-7) picked up the victory for DSU, giving up two hits in four scoreless innings of relief. NSU did tag Shields for three runs on five hits in 4.1 innings in relief in the second contest, with Tara Tursellino (0-7) taking the loss.
 
Halford drove in four runs in game 2 and went 3-for-6 with five RBI on the day. Barfield also had a pair of RBI in game 1, and Bitler finished the afternoon 4-for-6 with two runs and an RBI.
 
The two teams finish out the series on Sunday at noon.