ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – The Norfolk State softball team did just enough on Wednesday afternoon to earn an opening round win over North Carolina A&T in the MEAC tournament at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex. The Spartans managed just two hits but held the Aggies in check in a 2-1 victory.
Sophomore pitcher
Skylar Swain and senior pitcher
Hunter Halford combined to give up five hits but just one unearned run in a combined effort. Swain (9-6) started the game and got the win after pitching 4.2 innings, while Halford earned the save as the two went back-and-forth between the circle, first base and the DP spot along with
Gabby Vaughan.
With the victory, NSU (25-18) advanced to play on Thursday at 3 p.m. in the next round of the tournament. The Spartans will play the winner of Delaware State-Florida A&M set for later in the day on Wednesday.
The Spartans struck first with a run in the bottom of the first. Junior
Shelby DesChamps reached first on a hit-by-pitch, stole second, went to third on a single by freshman
Lily Potter and then scored on senior
Kylee Lopez' sac fly to left.
They then added another run in the second when sophomore
Jade Dixon singled with one out and eventually scored on a double steal attempt.
The Aggies got an infield hit in the top of the third to make it 2-1, and starter Mohagony Headen shut the Spartans down from there. Following the last play of the second in which Dixon scored but A&T got the third out of the inning, Headen retired 12 straight batters to close out the game. Still, she fell to 1-15 overall on the year despite allowing just two hits and two runs, one earned.
The Aggies nearly tied it up in the seventh, thanks to a few hits in the right spot and an error on the Spartans. But with the bases loaded and one out, Halford got pinch hitter Nikki Varela to hit one back to the circle that deflected off her glove. Freshman
Denisha Megginson picked it up, tagged the runner going to second and threw out Varela to complete the double play and preserve the win.
Potter and Dixon each had hits for the Spartans. Zadaisha Waddell went 2-for-3 for the Aggies (8-30).
