Box Scores: Game 1 | Game 2

HAMPTON, Va. – The Hampton University softball team split a doubleheader with North Carolina Central Monday afternoon, winning the second game 4-2 after losing the first game 5-1 at Lady Pirates Field.

With the second game tied at 2-2 in the sixth inning, Kelsei Saunders (Suffolk, Va.) put the Lady Pirates (15-22) up for good, rocking a two-run home run over the center field wall. Jada Jeffries (Lithonia, Ga.) then retired the Lady Eagles in order in the top of the seventh inning to wrap up the game.

Jessica Refojo put NCCU on top in the top of the second inning, reaching on an error that also brought across a pair of runs to give the Lady Eagles (6-26) a 2-0 lead.

The Lady Pirates tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, when Jeffries helped her our cause by singling home a pair of runs.

Jeffries went seven innings to pick up her eighth win of the season, giving up six hits and striking out four. Both runs she surrendered were unearned.

Jeffries went 2-for-3 at the plate in the second game, as did Saunders and MEAC Player of the Week Rebecca Magett (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Jeffries and Saunders each drove in a pair of runs.

Michelle Ishida went 3-for-3 for the Lady Eagles.

The Lady Eagles struck first in the third inning of the first game, thanks to an RBI single from Nadia Jefferies, before adding another run in the fourth when Ashanti Stroud scored on a throwing error to take a 2-0 lead.

Deshanbra Franklin hit a two-run home run to right-center field in the fifth inning to put NCCU up 4-0, before the Lady Pirates answered in the bottom of the inning with a sacrifice fly from Travonna Byrd (Newport News, Va.) to cut the lead to 4-1.

An RBI groundout from Shakemia Edwards in the sixth inning pushed the game to its final margin.

Sharde' Estep (Aquasco, Md.) and Brooke Boykin (Riverside, Calif.) each went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead Hampton in the first game.

Franklin went 3-for-3 in the first game to lead NCCU.

The Lady Pirates will return to action on Wednesday, when the take on East Carolina in a doubleheader at Lady Pirates Field at 1 p.m. For more information on Hampton University softball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.