WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Norfolk State softball team completed a weekend sweep of Howard with a 10-5 win over the Bison on Sunday afternoon in the series finale at Nationals Youth Academy.
 
The Spartans scored seven runs in the first two innings and had 10 hits in the game. Junior Kylee Lopez had four of those, including a pair of doubles, as she hit 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.
 
With just one MEAC series left, NSU now stands 8-7 in the league as well as 18-23 overall.
 
The Bison (4-34, 2-9 MEAC) scored four of their five runs in the fourth inning. Freshman Skylar Swain shut them down afterwards, allowing just two hits in four scoreless innings of relief to improve her personal record to 8-6.
 
It did not take long for the Spartans to get going. A single and a walk with one out in the first inning gave Lopez the chance to drive in a pair with a two-run double. She later scored on a throwing error when senior Jaylene Pryor stole second, and Pryor also scored on an error two batters later.
 
The Bison scored in the bottom of the first on a wild pitch to make it a 4-1 game, but NSU added three more runs in the second inning. Just like the first inning, freshman Tuli Iosefa singled and junior Hunter Halford walked with one out. Lopez reached on an infield single, and Iosefa scored when the Bison committed yet another error on the next play. Senior Seana Moriarty delivered a two-run single for a six-run lead.
 
Howard, which had seven errors in the game, committed two more in the third. The second of those two miscues allowed junior Shelby DesChamps to cross the plate for an 8-1 lead. Then in the fourth, freshman Kayla Porter doubled and scored on yet another error. The Spartans, however, saw another runner get thrown out at home later in the inning before leaving the bases loaded.
 
Howard then turned that momentum into four runs in the fourth to cut the Spartan lead to 9-5. Alyssa Lavine's two-run, pinch hit single highlighted the inning, but an unassisted double play by Iosefa at third kept the Bison from getting any closer.
 
The last of Howard's seven errors came in the sixth and allowed freshman Jazzmaine Hammond to reach base. She eventually scored on DesChamps' fielder's choice for the final margin.
 
Iosefa hit 2-for-5 with two runs, and Halford also scored a pair.
 
NSU will have off next weekend from MEAC play. Instead, the Spartans will host North Carolina Central on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Radford on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in a pair of non-conference doubleheaders.