Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – Senior Whitney Williams hit a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh with two outs to cap a five-run rally and send the Norfolk State softball team to a 10-9, come-from-behind win over Hampton on Sunday afternoon at the NSU Softball Field.
 
The Spartans won the rubber game of the three-game series despite being down by six runs after three innings of play. As rain began to fall in the bottom of the seventh, NSU pulled off a big comeback to secure the No. 2 seed from the MEAC Northern Division.
 
With NSU down 9-5 with no one on base and one out, senior Megan Dunning doubled over the glove of the shortstop to get the seventh inning rally going. Sophomore Megan Przeslawski singled past the third baseman before the Pirates got the second out of the inning. But as the rain began to get heavier, Hampton starter Allie Hotetz had trouble with her control.
 
After hitting freshman Stephanie Davenport to load the bases, Hotetz allowed a single off the bat of junior Devon Bitler, a hit that landed just in front of left fielder Hope Sobelewski. Senior Heather Dunning walked on four straight pitches to bring home the second run, and sophomore Seana Moriarty worked the count full before also drawing a bases-loaded walk.
 
After a pitching changed, Williams lined the first pitch of the at bat over the head of Sobelewski to plate both Heather Dunning and Bitler for the game-winning runs. All five runs scored with two outs.
 
Williams finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored and four RBI after hitting a two-run bomb in the first to put her into a tie for the all-time program record for home runs.
 
Both Davenport and Heather Dunning each drove in two runs as well. NSU had 10 hits in the game, with every starter accumulating one hit aside from Williams with two. Every starter in the lineup for the Spartans also scored a run each, with Przeslawski crossing the plate twice.
 
The victory moved NSU's record to 11-6 in conference play while dropping Hampton to 11-7. The Spartans still have a make-up game with Morgan State on the schedule, but because of the series win over Hampton, Norfolk State secured the No. 2 seed from the MEAC North in next week's conference tournament in Florida.
 
NSU ran its overall record to 17-23 while dropping Hampton to 19-26.
 
An RBI groundout for Hampton gave the Pirates an early 1-0 lead in the game, but Williams had an immediate answer in the bottom of the first. After Moriarty singled with one out, Williams lined a 1-0 pitch beyond the fence in left center and into a gated area with a satellite dish. It moved her into a tie with Lekita Wilson and Ursel Bruton for first all-time at NSU in career homers with 22 and gave her seven home runs this season.
 
A pair of errors on NSU allowed the Pirates to score two runs in the second and take a 3-2 lead. Taylor Clark's two-run double past the bag at first highlighted a five-run third inning for Hampton, with two more runs scoring later in the frame on a hit and subsequent error on a single by Diamond Ponds.
 
In the fourth, down 8-2 in the game and with runners on first and second with two outs, Heather Dunning hit a popup behind the bag at first. HU second baseman Daniella Malloy made a diving attempt on the ball, which eventually rolled into foul territory to allow freshman Kylee Lopez to score from second.
 
The Spartans added a pair of runs in the fifth to make it 8-5 when Davenport blooped a two-run single into shallow left center to score junior Kayla McNair and Przeslawski, who had walked earlier in the inning to reach base.
 
Sobelewski hit a solo homer in the sixth to cap the scoring for Hampton before the Spartans rallied one inning later.
 
Przeslawski relieved Spartan starter Marissa Marrero in the third inning and earned the win, running her record to 5-4. Przeslawski alloed two hits and one earned run with four strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work. Only two of the nine runs allowed by the Spartan pitching staff were earned.
 
Hotetz (11-14) suffered the loss despite not delivering the final pitch of the game to Williams in the seventh.
 
NSU will play a makeup game against Morgan State next Saturday to close out the regular season.