HAMPTON, Va. – Hampton rallied to send the first game into extra innings, but the Norfolk State softball team came back from that loss to win the second game as the teams split a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon at the HU Softball Stadium.
The Pirates tied the first game up with a run in the bottom of the seventh, and they finally put the game away in the 11
th on a walk-off hit. The Spartans got a solid pitching performance from sophomore
Skylar Swain in game 2, as she held off a late Pirate rally for the afternoon split.
Senior
Kylee Lopez had four hits on the day, and sophomore
Tuli Iosefa and freshman
Denisha Megginson each contributed three. Iosefa's homer in game 2 proved to be the difference.
NSU ran its record to 18-15 overall, while Hampton moved its overall mark to 20-14 on the season.
Swain (6-5) gave up four hits and one earned run with four strikeouts in all seven innings of game 2. Iosefa and freshman
Lily Potter each had two hits.
Potter and Megginson helped NSU score first, as they hit singles in the top of the second to put a pair of runners on base. Junior
Shelby DesChamps followed with an infield single off the glove of Hampton starter Allie Hotetz for the early 1-0 lead.
Iosefa later made it 2-0 in the fifth with a solo home run to left center, her seventh four-bagger of the season.
But the Pirates made it interesting in the seventh, hitting a triple and an RBI double to make it 2-1. An error put runners on second and third with one out, but Swain got a strikeout and a flyout to center to secure the win.
Hotetz (10-7) suffered the loss after pitching all seven innings and giving up eight hits and two earned runs.
In the first game, Hampton scored a run in the first thanks to a pair of hits, but NSU went ahead in the third. DesChamps hit an RBI groundout to score the first run, and an error on the Pirates that would have been the third out plated the second for a 2-1 lead.
DesChamps hit a sac fly in the sixth to give the Spartans some extra cushion, which they needed after the Pirates hit an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-2. But the Pirates rallied with a walk and two singles in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
NSU had chances in those extra frames, leaving the bases loaded in the 10
th after Hampton got a force out at home for the second out. The Pirates finally ended it with a walk-off single to the wall down the left field line in the 11
th.
Lopez batted 3-for-5 in the first game, and senior
Hunter Halford and Megginson each had two of the team's 10 hits in the game. In the circle, Halford (9-9) allowed 10 hits and three earned runs in 9.0 innings of work. Hotetz gave up six hits and one earned run in seven innings of relief for the victory.
The teams combined to leave 27 runners on base in that first contest.
For Hampton, Janae Lyles had two hits in each game. The Pirates finished with 12 in the first game but just four in the second.
The Spartans will host Coppin State on Saturday and Sunday for a three-game MEAC series at the NSU Softball Field.
