NORFOLK, Va. – More than 11 months after its last official game, the Norfolk State softball team began its 2021 season on Saturday afternoon with a win over Morehead State. The Eagles returned the favor in game 2 as the teams split a doubleheader at the NSU Softball Field.
Norfolk State scored three runs in the first inning of the season on the way to an 8-6 victory over MSU. The Eagles, meanwhile, were also playing their first games of the year. They benefitted from five unearned runs on five NSU errors as they took the second game, 9-5, during a cold evening in Norfolk.
Senior
Tuli Iosefa and sophomore
Cam Andersen each drove in two runs in the NSU victory. Andersen also got the win in the circle in her Spartan debut.
Junior
Gabby Vaughan had three hits on the day, including an RBI double in the first inning as NSU started the first game of the season with a 3-0 lead. Iosefa hit an RBI groundout in the first, and she also belted a solo homer in the fourth when the Spartans scored three more runs. Senior
Shelby DesChamps also had an RBI hit as NSU went ahead 6-1.
Morehead State got two runs back in the top of the fifth, but the Spartans did the same in their half of the inning as Andersen doubled home Vaughan and sophomore
Imani Moore for an 8-3 lead. The Eagles had three RBI hits in the seventh to close the gap at the end.
Vaughan and Moore each had two hits in game 1, and Vaughan also scored twice. Andersen, meanwhile, allowed four hits and three runs, two earned, in five innings of work with six strikeouts.
Morehead State had 11 hits in the first game and 10 more in game 2. The Eagles scored four runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth and were primed to end the second game early when they went ahead 8-0. But senior
Jade Dixon reached base and eventually scored on a wild pitch to break up the shutout in the bottom of the fifth. DesChamps scored on an RBI single from junior
Alison Guckin to make it 8-2.
Down 9-2 in the seventh, NSU scored three runs for the final margin. Senior
Jazzmaine Hammond hit an RBI groundout with the bases loaded, and Vaughan tripled to right field to bring home the last two runs of the day.
The Spartans managed just four hits in that second contest. Sophomore
Kirsten Greene pitched the last 2.1 innings of the game and gave up just one unearned run without allowing a hit. All seven outs she recorded came via the strikeout.
Dixon scored two of NSU's five runs in game 2. Hammond finished with four stolen bases over the course of the day.
Carolyn Alincic got the win for MSU despite allowing five earned runs and eight walks. Alexis Strother hit 4-for-7 for the Eagles during the two games.
The two teams will play another doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 11 a.m.
