RADFORD, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team defeated Radford for the first time in 15 attempts, and the Spartans split a doubleheader with the Highlanders on Wednesday afternoon at the Radford Softball Stadium.
 
Senior Hunter Halford scattered six hits over seven shutout innings in game 1, and she drove in the only run of the game for a 1-0 win. NSU had been 0-14 all-time against the Highlanders before that point. The Highlanders, however, scored four runs in the fifth in game 2 to break open what became an eventual 8-3 victory.
 
The Spartans moved to 12-11 overall this season with the start of conference play up next.
 
Halford had one of the team's four hits in the first game, a single into left field in the top of the fourth. That drove in senior Kylee Lopez, who had reached on the first of two errors in the inning for the Highlanders.
 
Radford (9-17) had chances, including runners on second and third with one out in the third. But the Spartans turned one of their three double plays in the game when sophomore Jazzmaine Hammond threw out a runner at home trying to score on a potential sac fly. Halford (6-6) did not allow a runner to reach third the rest of the game.
 
Kayla Huffman (3-9) took the loss for Radford despite allowing just four hits in seven innings of work.
 
The Highlanders scored two runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth in game 2 to turn a tight game their way.
 
The Spartans led 2-1 after two innings of play. Hammond led off the game with a solo homer, and in the second Halford singled with one out and later scored when Radford starter Jessie Marvin threw wild to first on a potential groundout.
 
The Highlanders also scored a run in the first, and they went up 3-2 in the fourth on a pair of solo homers. They also had two RBI hits and a pair of sac flies in the fifth for a 7-2 advantage. Sophomore Tuli Iosefa hit a solo homer in the sixth for NSU, and Radford hit its third solo homer of the game in the bottom of the frame for the final margin.
 
Hammond and freshman Gabby Vaughan each had two of NSU's eight hits in the game. Marvin (4-7) struck out four and allowed all eight hits in seven innings, giving up three runs, two of them earned.
 
NSU will head to Morgan State this weekend to take on the Bears for a three-game MEAC series. It will mark the first conference games of the year for the Spartans.