HAMPTON, Va. – Hampton scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to win game 1 by a 5-4 score before completing the sweep with a 7-2 victory in the second contest against the Norfolk State softball team on Saturday afternoon at the HU Softball Stadium.
 
In NSU's last conference series of the year, the Spartans held a 4-2 lead near the end of the first game, only to watch Hampton rally thanks in part to three walks. The Pirates then scored four runs in the second inning of game 2 on the way to the sweep.
 
Norfolk State fell to 5-12 in the MEAC and 12-23 overall. Hampton maintained its top perch in the conference's Northern Division at 13-1, as well as 18-20 overall.
 
The Pirates faced a 4-2 deficit in the bottom of the seventh after NSU had tacked on an insurance run half an inning earlier. Cassidy Blackwell doubled with one out to start the rally. Spartan starter Megan Przeslawski walked the next three batters and hit a fourth to tie the score, and starting pitcher Allyson Babinsack lined a single into right center for the walk-off hit.
 
Przeslawski held Hampton to just three hits while also walking six.
 
The Spartans scored the first run of the day in the third. Senior Devon Bitler singled with one out, and Hampton's throw down to second on a sacrifice bunt attempt got away, putting runners on the corners. Bitler then scored on junior Jaylene Pryor's sacrifice fly deep down the left field line.
 
NSU added two more runs in the fourth. The Spartans put runners on first and second thanks in part to another error on HU. With two outs, senior Hannah Haustein singled down the right field line to score one run, and a second run came home when the relay throw got away from the Pirates.
 
Hampton immediately answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, the first on a suicide squeeze and the second on a sac fly out to center to make it 3-2 in favor of the Spartans.
 
Pryor hit a solo homer just over the left field fence in the seventh for an insurance run that proved to not be enough in the bottom half of the inning.
 
Pryor had a pair of RBI for the Spartans.
 
Babinsack (11-13) gave up six hits and four runs, just one earned, with four strikeouts in all seven innings.
 
Then in game 2, freshman Meaghan Barfield went 3-for-3 and scored both runs for the Spartans.
 
Hampton starting pitcher Allie Hotetz got things going with a two-run single in the bottom of the second to begin a four-run rally. A triple and a passed ball added two more runs as part of the four-hit inning for the Pirates.
 
NSU plated its first run in the fourth after Haustein followed a pair of singles with an RBI single of her own to center. Sarah Kollas got the run back with a solo homer in the bottom of the frame, and Hampton collected four hits and a walk to score twice more in the fifth for a 7-1 advantage.
 
Barfield blasted her fourth home run of the season in the sixth inning, a solo shot to left center that easily cleared the 215-foot sign, to close out the day's scoring.
 
Hampton collected 13 hits in the game, with Hotetz driving in three and Taylor Warrick batting 2-for-4 with two RBI. Hotetz also pitched all seven innings and allowed seven hits and two earned runs.
 
Sophomore Shelby DesChamps hit 3-for-5 on the day for NSU.
 
The two squads finish out the series on Sunday at noon.