NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team lost a pair of games on Sunday afternoon during day 1 of the Spartan/Pirate Classic at the NSU Softball Field. Mount St. Mary's opened the tournament with a 6-2 win over the Spartans, and Central Connecticut State handed them a 7-3 loss right after.
Junior
Shelby DesChamps hit 5-for-7 on the day, collecting five of the team's 14 hits. NSU still fell to 1-6 on the year.
Mount St. Mary's (2-4) scored two runs in three different innings on its way to the first of two victories on Sunday. Central Connecticut State (1-0) scored five runs in the first three innings and had 13 hits altogether in the win.
Avery Neuhart (1-1) led MSMU in the circle, pitching all seven innings and allowing two earned runs with four strikeouts. The Mountaineers had a pair of hits in the first inning to build a 2-0 lead, and they added two more runs in the fifth on a two-run double by Morgan Alisauckas, who finished 3-for-4 with five RBI.
She also hit a two-run homer in the seventh for a 6-0 lead. But the Spartans loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning. Both runs came home when the Mountaineers turned a double play. The Spartans put two more runners on base after that, but Neuhart got one last strikeout to end the game.
Senior
Hunter Halford suffered the loss after allowing all seven hits and six runs, three earned, with six strikeouts in seven innings of work.
DesChamps and sophomore
Tuli Iosefa each had two hits in the second game of the day. But CCSU got going early. The Blue Devils hit a sac fly in the first and a solo homer in the second for an early 2-0 lead. They added three more runs in the third, two on a single from Sarah Ogilvie.
The Spartans got one run back in the fourth on an RBI single from freshman
Alison Guckin. Iosefa hit an RBI single in the fifth, and freshman
Gabby Vaughan hit a sac fly later in the inning to make it 5-3 in favor of CCSU. But the Blue Devils added two more runs in the seventh for the final margin.
Carly Storker (1-0) earned the win after allowing three earned runs in all seven innings.
NSU will host Morehead State at 12:15 p.m. and St. Bonaventure at 2:30 on Monday during the last day of the tournament.