CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team rallied to top Delaware in extra innings before falling to host Virginia on Saturday afternoon in the Cavalier Classic at The Park.
 
The second day of the tournament saw the Spartans top the Blue Hens 7-6 in eight innings after coming back from a 4-1 deficit. Immediately afterwards, Virginia broke the game open in the fourth and ended the contest on the eight-run rule in a 10-2 victory.
 
NSU trailed Delaware 4-0 early on, but the Spartans took a one-run lead thanks to a four-run fifth. Delaware tied it up with an unearned in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings, where the Spartans claimed the win.
 
Virginia (7-9) scored five runs in the fourth inning to break open what had been a one-run game. The Cavaliers added two more runs in the sixth to close it out, dropping NSU to 5-7 on the season.
 
In the first game of the day, the Spartans led a lead slip away before rebounding for the win. Sophomore Tuli Iosefa and freshman Gabby Vaughan each hit RBI doubles in the top of the eight to put NSU up for good against Delaware (6-8). Iosefa drove home senior Kylee Lopez, who had started the inning at second base via the international tiebreaker rule. Vaughan followed with a shot to center field for a 7-5 lead.
 
Senior Hunter Halford (2-4) earned the win after allowing 10 hits and six runs, three earned, in all eight innings. She worked out of a jam in the eighth, as the Blue Hens hit an RBI triple with one out. But Halford struck out the last two batters, two of her four strikeouts in the game, for the victory.
 
Delaware put four runs on the board on three hits in the first inning. The Spartans got one run back in the third on Lopez' RBI single, and the Spartans put a four-spot on the scoreboard in the fifth.
 
Freshman Jazzmaine Hammond hit an infield single and went to second on a fielder's choice when the Blue Hens failed to record an out. Hammond stole third and went home on a throwing error, and freshman Alison Guckin scored when junior Shelby DesChamps doubled to right. Lopez followed with a single, and Iosefa doubled home both for a 5-4 advantage.
 
Delaware eventually tied it up in the seventh, getting the first runner on base via an NSU error before following that up with a two-out single with a runner on third.
 
Iosefa hit 2-of-4 with three RBI, and Lopez also batted 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Guckin scored twice, and DesChamps continued her strong start to the season with a 2-for-4 game.
 
The Spartans handed Sarah Piening (4-5) the loss after she gave up four hits and three runs, two earned, in four innings of relief.
 
Vaughan hit an RBI single in the top of the first against Virginia, and sophomore Jade Dixon hit her first career homer, a solo shot in the second. The Spartans trailed 3-2 after Virginia scored two runs in the first and another in the second.
 
Lacy Smith hit a three-run homer for the Cavaliers in their five-run fourth. They later got a sac fly and an RBI single in the sixth to close out the scoring. Virginia finished with 12 hits in the game.
 
NSU will play a doubleheader against Virginia on Sunday at 9 a.m.