BALTIMORE, Md. – On its second four-game winning streak of the season, the Norfolk State softball team earned a pair of wins over Coppin State in a MEAC doubleheader on Saturday afternoon in Baltimore. In the wins, Gabby Vaughan picked up her 100th career hit and finished the day three hits and currently has 101 in her four seasons.
The Spartans never trailed in either game, taking game one 7-3 before shutting out the Eagles in the second, 7-0. Over the course of the two contests, NSU collected 21 hits and 14 runs.
CSU kept the Spartans off the scoreboard in the first inning of the first game but a single by Morgan Johnson scored Cam Andersen from third, who reached on a single to third base. A throwing error by the shortstop had allowed her to reach second before a single by Yrral Davis had pushed Andersen to third.
Back-to-back doubles by Kenna Higa and Vaughan extended the lead to two. An Imani Moore hit for NSU put runners on first and third with no outs. Rylie Gilbreath cleared the bases with a triple to deep right field that scored both Vaughan and Moore and gave the Spartans a 4-0 lead. Andersen would score Gilbreath on a sacrifice fly to right. NSU finished the inning with four runs on four hits.
Coppin State answered in the bottom half of the third with a three-run homerun over the left center field fence by Brissa Alvarado to bring the Eagles within two after three innings.
In the fifth, the Spartans loaded the bases on a walk by Guckin that saw Lily Potter advance to second and Johnson reach third. Higa collected her third hit of the game, a single to right field, that brought home two runs and put the Spartan lead back to four. Neither team was able to cross the plate in the final two innings, giving the Spartans the 7-3 win.
Joana Vallejo pitched a complete game for NSU with eight strikeouts, a career game high.
Game two was all Spartans from the start. Potter led off the first with a single up the middle and Moore followed up with a double down the left field line that scored Potter. Higa was hit by a pitch on a full count. Guckin grounded out to the pitcher, but Moore was able to score the second run for NSU in the inning. A fielding error by the Eagles extended the inning and allowed Higa to score pushing the Spartan lead to three.
Moore started off the third inning for NSU with a triple before Higa hit a sacrifice fly to center to push the lead to four. It wasn't until the sixth inning that the Spartans tallied another run, but a double by Davis scored Hannah Jessie, who was pinch running for Vaughan, from second. Two batter later, Loren Hudson singled to center field scoring Davis and making it a six-run game after six. NSU added an insurance run in the seventh when Guckin lined out to left field and Moore scoring.
Alexis Robinson pitched the complete-game shutout with three strikeouts. She improved to 11-2 on the season and has nearly doubled her win total from a season ago.
The Spartans (20-15, 5-3 MEAC) and Eagles (0-25, 0-7 MEAC) will play the final game of the series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.
