NORFOLK, Va. – For the second day in a row, the Norfolk State softball team split a pair of games at the Spartan-Pirate Clash. The Spartans opened up with a 4-2 over Bryant before falling to Drexel to close out the weekend on the NSU Softball Field.
Against the Bulldogs, both teams got a runner aboard but could not get them across the plate. The Bulldogs looked like they would start off the second inning strong after Alexis Clancy hit a double to right center but three straight groundouts to shortstop prevented her from scoring.
In the fourth, Tuli Iosefa led off the bottom of the inning with a single. After reaching first, Hannah Jessie came in and pinch ran for the senior. Kenna Higa was hit by a pitch with a 1-2 count to put runners on first and second with no outs. Gabby Vaughan hit an almost identical ball up the middle as Iosefa that scored Jessie. A throwing error by the pitcher allowed Vaughan and Higa to both advance two bases with Higa touching home plate to give the Spartans 2-0 lead.
It did not take long for NSU to find the score board again. After being down 0-2 in the count, Victoria Ruiz induced a walk. Potter hit a ball towards third base that the fielder threw over the head of the second baseman into deep center field that allow both Ruiz and Potter to round the bases and extend the NSU lead to four.
Bryant used two-straight hits to start the sixth and scored a pair of runs to cut the Spartan lead in half before the end of the frame, but the defense picked up and NSU kept the Bulldogs scoreless in the seventh to preserve the 4-2 win.
To close out the day, NSU took the field against Drexel who had been playing the previous two days at Hampton.
The Dragons got on the board early when Ashley Errico hit a two-run home run in the first inning, scoring Kristi DiMeo. Both teams went scoreless in the second before Errico hit her second two-run of the game in the third to push the Drexel lead to four.
In the bottom of the fourth, after Morgan Johnson walked and Yrral Davis reached first on a fielder's choice, Potter doubled to deep left field that scored both Johnson and Davis to cut the Dragon lead in half. Drexel responded in the top of the fifth with three runs on three hits to push and extend the lead to 7-2. The added their eighth and final run in the top of the sixth.
The Spartans made things interesting in the bottom half of the inning. Imani Moore led off with a double to left center on the first pitch of the at bat. After both Johnson and Davis grounded out to third base, Potter had a hard-hit ball towards shortstop that ricocheted off the outstretched glove of the fielder that allowed Moore to score from second. Lauren Sheehan followed up with the first pitch she saw and singled up the middle to put runners on first and second.
Iosefa continued the Spartan hitting streak with a single up the middle that scored Potter and advanced Sheehan to second. Back-To-Back wild pitches push Iosefa to third and allowed Sheehan to score. After Higa walked, Vaughan hit a single to left center that scored Iosefa but was caught trying to take second. However, the Spartans pulled within two heading to the seventh.
In the final inning, NSU used a single by Moore and a walk by Gabby Gosman to put runners on first and second with no outs. But the Dragons induced a strikeout, groundout and line out to hold on and secure the 8-6 win.
For the weekend Higa led the Spartans with a .500 batting average with three singles, a double, and a home run to go along with three walks and she was hit by a pitch four other times. Her slugging percentage was .900. Iosefa was right behind her with a .462 BA over the six games with a double and home run. She was walked six times on the weekend. Alexis Robinson got both wins for the Spartans, going 2-0 in 13.2 innings pitched, striking out six.
The Spartans (10-9) will travel away from the Tidewater area for the first time this season on Wednesday when they travel to Blacksburg for a double-header against the Hokies starting at 1 p.m. NSU will then travel for a single game against James Madison on Thursday at 1 p.m. before heading to the Thundering Herd Invite in Huntington, W.Va. next weekend. The Dukes come into the season after making a run to the Women's College World Series a year ago in Oklahoma City.
