NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State junior
Rylie Gilbreath had a tremendous series on Friday finishing with 3 hits in 6 at-bats with four RBIs and two walks against Youngstown State and UNLV at the NSU Softball Field.
The Spartans fell 5-3 to Youngstown State (11-6) and 7-4 to UNLV (13-8).
The Spartans brought themselves within one run of the Penguins of YSU with a two run bottom of the fifth to make the score 3-2.
Gilbreath, who leads the Spartans in hits and RBIs, hit a two-RBI single to right field to bring the Spartans within a run of the Penguins
At the bottom of the seventh down one run, the Spartans rallied and scored a run to take the game into extra innings.
The seventh started with Victoria Ruiz being hit by a pitch. She would later advance to second on a passed ball allowing for Gilbreath, with two outs, to single, reach first, and score Ruiz for the tying run of the game.
The Penguins put up two runs in the top of the eighth and the Spartans were unable to capitalize in the bottom of the inning. The Spartans would go on to lose 5-3.
Against UNLV, the Rebels used a seven-run second inning to jump out to an early lead over the Spartans.
The Spartans scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning on a groundout by Ruiz and a double by Maya Johnson.
The Spartans are now down 7-2 going into the bottom of the fourth where they would score a pair of runs to bring the score to within three runs.
Maddy Morris singles and advanced to second on the throw by the left fielder in the first at-bat in the fourth inning to put the Spartans in the perfect position to score. Morris scored from third after advancing on a sac bunt by Ruiz and a throwing error by the catcher.
Gilbreath came in to score the second run of the inning on a single to left field to score LIsa Zorb who reached on a walk in the previous at-bat. The Spartans would go down 7-4 for the entirety of the game after bringing it within three runs.
Emree Sky Obispo, Morris, Johnson, Aniyah Michalak, Kailey Bryant each recorded hits for the Spartans in the series.
Coming up - Due to inclement weather on the forecast, the next Norfolk State softball game will be on Sunday, Mar. 10 at home against Le Moyne at 3:30 p.m.
