BALTIMORE, Md. – The Norfolk State softball team won the first game of a Sunday afternoon doubleheader at Lois T. Murray Field, and despite falling in the second contest against Morgan State, the Spartans won their MEAC opening series.
The Spartans overcame an early 5-1 hole and later scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh to win the first contest of the day, 6-5. But in game 2, the Bears broke a tie in the bottom of the sixth and held on for a victory by the same score, 6-5.
The trio of senior
Kylee Lopez, junior
Shelby DesChamps and sophomore
Tuli Iosefa played a big part on offense on Sunday as NSU won two of three in the series after also defeating the Bears on Saturday. The Spartans now sit 14-12 overall and 2-1 in the MEAC.
Iosefa drove in a pair of runs in each game, and Lopez had three runs and three RBI over the course of the day. DesChamps also scored three runs between the two games.
Morgan State saw its overall record move to 7-17, 1-2 in the MEAC.
The Spartans had to recover from a 5-1 second-inning deficit in game 1. After Lopez hit a sac fly in the first, the Bears had all four of their hits in the game in the second. Three of their five runs in the inning, however, came after NSU should have recorded the third out.
Norfolk State got closer in the fourth, as Lopez' single was followed by a homer to right field off the bat of Iosefa. Now down 5-3, NSU tied it up in the sixth. The first runner attempting to score got thrown out at home, but freshmen
Lily Potter and
Denisha Megginson followed with RBI singles to make it a 5-5 ballgame.
In the seventh, DesChamps doubled and later came home on freshman
Gabby Vaughan's RBI single. Senior
Hunter Halford recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the frame for the save. Senior
Shannon Buffington (3-1) allowed one hit and one earned run in 4.1 innings of relief for the victory.
Potter hit 2-for-3, and Iosefa scored twice with two RBI. Morgan State left just one runner on base, while NSU stranded seven.
Morgan State had 11 hits in the second contest to salvage one game in the series. It started off on the right foot for the Spartans. DesChamps singled with one out, and Lopez launched a homer to left center for the early 2-0 lead. But MSU tied it up on Amy Pacheco's two-run double in the first.
Iosefa hit a two-run double in the third after DesChamps and Lopez had singled and walked, respectively. The Bears cut it to 4-3 with a run in the bottom of the inning and then went up 5-4 with two runs in the fourth.
In the sixth, Vaughan doubled, went to third on a single by Halford, and tied the game when Morgan State turned a double play. But the Bears manufactured a run in the sixth for the final margin. The Spartans did have the bases loaded with one out in the seventh, but MSU starter Stephanie Rundlett forced a pair of popups to earn the win.
Rundlett (5-11) allowed seven hits and five runs, three earned, with four strikeouts. Halford (7-7) was tagged for the loss.
The Spartans will return home to host Maryland Eastern Shore for a three-game series beginning on Saturday at the NSU Softball Field.
