NORFOLK, Va. – Coppin State rallied in the seventh in game 1 before the Norfolk State softball team pulled out the win in game 2 as the teams split a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon in the MEAC opener for both at the NSU Softball Field.
 
CSU's Nia Bowe hit a pair of two-run home runs in the first contest, including a blast in the top of the seventh for the final 5-3 margin. Junior Kylee Lopez hit a two-run homer in the third inning of the second game, and NSU held on for a 5-4 victory.
 
Senior Jaylene Pryor had a pair of hits in each game, and Lopez went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI in the second game. NSU ran its record to 11-17 overall and 1-1 in the MEAC. Coppin State bumped its overall mark to 4-10 as well as 1-1 in the league.
 
Junior Hunter Halford (3-7) earned the win in the second game after allowing eight hits and four runs, three earned, with four strikeouts. Coppin State actually had the early lead after scoring two runs in the first on an RBI groundout and an RBI single off the bat of Cloe' Ochoa.
 
Pryor doubled in the bottom of the first and eventually scored after taking advantage of CSU's poor attempt to pick her off from third. After the Eagles hit a sac fly in the third for a 3-1 advantage, the Spartans scored three in the bottom half of the frame to take the lead for good.
 
Pryor singled to lead off the inning, and Lopez followed with her seventh homer of the season, a shot over the center field fence. A pair of hits put two more runners on base, and Halford scored from third when the Eagles went for the out at second during an attempted double steal.
 
Lopez doubled in the fifth and scored on freshman Kayla Porter's RBI single back up the middle, making it 5-3. Coppin State got a run back in the sixth on Sydney Dombrowski's RBI single, but Halford stranded two runners and then finished the game off in the seventh.
 
Pryor scored a pair of runs, and senior Julianne Gillo had a pair of hits as well. She and freshman Jazzmaine Hammond each had three hits over the course of the day.
 
In game 1, CSU's Madison Didion ran her personal record to 4-2 after allowing seven hits and three earned runs while working around six walks with nine strikeouts. Bowe provided the offense, blasting a two-run home run down the left field line in the fifth and then hitting another in the seventh to center field.
 
Both teams had scored in the second, Coppin State on an RBI single and Norfolk State on Gillo's RBI single to right. The Spartans added two more in the fourth on RBI singles by Porter and Pryor before Bowe won the game for CSU.
 
Norfolk State left 10 runners on base in game 1.
 
The two teams will finish out the series Sunday at noon.