NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team finished the day with 20 hits, and three pitchers combined to allow just one unearned run in a doubleheader sweep of Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday afternoon at the NSU Softball Field.
 
NSU won the first game by an 8-1 margin, but the Spartans needed only five innings to win the second by a 10-0 score. Senior Kylee Lopez and freshman Lily Potter each had four RBI over the course of both games.
 
Swain capped the sweep by pitching all five innings in game 2, allowing four hits with five strikeouts for her third shutout of the season. She ran her personal record to 5-4, while NSU improved to 4-1 in the MEAC as well as 16-12 overall.
 
In the first contest, senior Hunter Halford (8-7) allowed three hits and one unearned run in five innings of work before senior Shannon Buffington pitched the last two innings.
 
The Hawks fell to 4-19 overall and 1-3 in the league.
 
Both games saw the Spartans break things open with big third innings. In game 1, sophomore Tuli Iosefa doubled in the first inning for the early 1-0 lead, and then the Spartans scored five in the third. It started with singles by freshman Alison Guckin and sophomore Jazzmaine Hammond.
 
Junior Shelby DesChamps tripled to the wall in right center to score both, and Lopez followed with a two-run homer close to the left field foul pole. Freshman Gabby Vaughan later hit a solo homer to left field for a 6-0 lead.
 
Maryland Eastern Shore got a run back in the fifth, but DesChamps singled and later came home on a double steal attempt in the bottom of the inning to give the Spartans their six-run lead back. Up 7-1, NSU added one more run in the sixth on Potter's pinch-hit RBI double.
 
DesChamps hit 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI, and Lopez batted 1-for-2 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored. Both players also batted 2-for-3 in game 2, with Lopez batting in two more runs.
 
This time, NSU had a 2-0 advantage after the first inning of play. DesChamps singled, and four straight walks, the last two with the bases loaded, put the Spartans ahead by two. Then came a seven-run third in which NSU piled up seven hits.
 
Lopez singled, and an error and a walk loaded the bases. Potter doubled home two runs, and freshman Denisha Megginson followed with a two-run single back up the middle. A single by sophomore Jade Dixon and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases yet again. The fifth run of the inning crossed the plate on DesChamps' infield single, and Lopez followed with a two-run single to left.
 
The Hawks finally got out of the inning despite another hit later by Vaughan, and Dixon hit a sac fly in the fourth for the final scoring. Only three of the 10 runs scored in the game were earned.
 
Potter hit 2-for-2 with two runs and three RBI, and Megginson had a pair of RBI as well. Potter had three doubles on the day.
 
The Spartans and Hawks finish out the series on Sunday at 9 a.m.