NORFOLK, Va. – It took 11 innings in game 1. Eleven innings before either team could score. When it was all said and done, the Norfolk State softball team fell in that first game before catching fire in the second in a doubleheader split with Davis & Elkins on Sunday afternoon at the NSU Softball Field.
 
The Senators scored three runs in the top of the 11^th and then held off a Spartan rally in a 3-1 win. It tied for the longest game in NSU history. But in game 2, the Spartans scored nine runs in the first frame on the way to a 12-1 win in five innings to close out the Spartan Classic.
 
Allie Lapallo kept NSU at bay in game 1, allowing just seven hits and one unearned run to win the pitcher's duel. Hunter Halford kept the Spartans in the game, allowing just five hits and no runs until the 11^th.
 
The second contest was a much different story. Three players had two RBI each, and three players each scored two runs in a very balanced game offensively for the Spartans. They finished with 10 hits in game 2.
 
Norfolk State improved to 8-3 on the year, while Davis & Elkins ran its record to 1-3.
 
Both teams struggled to get much going early on. The Senators left the bases loaded in the third, while NSU could not finish a two-out rally in their half of the inning. Beginning in the eighth, both teams started their half of the inning with a runner on second on the international tiebreaker rule.
 
The Spartans eventually got the runner out at home in the eighth to keep Davis & Elkins from scoring, while NSU's runner was thrown out trying to steal third in the bottom of the eighth. Halford got the last two outs of the ninth with a runner on third, while the Spartans could not score with the bases loaded and one out in their half of the frame.
 
Thanks to a pair of calls that went in NSU's favor, the Senators failed to score in the 10^th. Another caught stealing killed the Norfolk State rally in the bottom of the inning, and then Davis & Elkins finally broke through in the 11^th.
 
A bunt single put runners on the corners, and Alyssa Cairns delivered an RBI single to break the scoreless tie. Another run came home on a wild throw from the outfield, and Rhetta Persinger's sac fly to left make it 3-0.
 
Junior Kylee Lopez doubled off the top of the wall in left center in the bottom of the 11^th to break up the shutout. The Spartans had runners on the corners with two outs before Lopez got tagged out at home on a bunt attempt off the bat of freshman Jazzmaine Hammond.
 
Seniors Seana Moriarty and Jaylene Pryor each went 2-for-5 in the game for the Spartans. Halford (2-2) suffered the loss after giving up five hits and three runs, one earned, in all 11 innings. Lapallo (1-1) struck out nine and allowed seven hits and one unearned run in a complete game win.
 
NSU also went 11 innings on May 8, 2010, in an 8-7 win over Winston-Salem State at home.
 
Freshman Skylar Swain (4-1) picked up the win in game 2, giving up just three hits and one earned run in three innings of work. The Spartans, meanwhile, tagged Davis & Elkins starter Victoria Krystynak for three hits and seven runs, three earned, in just 0.2 innings of work.
 
With the bases loaded and two outs, Moriarty drove one into left to score a pair of runs. Hammond singled to bring in one run, and another scored on a dropped fly on Davis & Elkins to make it 4-1. Freshman Jade Dixon followed with an RBI single, and Pryor later hit a two-run single with the bases loaded.
 
Up 7-1 at that point, freshman Kayla Porter smacked a single past the shortstop. Junior Shelby DesChamps scored on the play, and Pryor did as well when the ball got away from the Senators.
 
The Spartans then extended the lead in the second. Lopez singled, and one out later Hammond reached on a bunt single. They moved into scoring position on a groundout, and Lopez scored on an error on a shot off the bat of Dixon. DesChamps followed with a two-run double to the wall in left center for the last runs of the game.
 
DesChamps hit 2-for-2 with two RBI, and Pryor batted 1-for-2 with two runs and two RBI. Moriarty also drove in a pair, and Hammond finished 2-for-2 with two runs and an RBI. Dixon was the third Spartan player to score two runs in the game.
 
The Spartans will compete next Friday and Saturday at the Winthrop Invitational, playing four games altogether.