NORFOLK, Va. – The Hampton University softball team dropped two of its three games against Norfolk State on Saturday and Sunday at the NSU Softball Field, falling 4-0 on Saturday before winning Sunday's first game 2-1 and losing the second game 6-3.

The Lady Pirates finish the regular season 23-31 overall (a 10-win improvement from last season) and 9-9 in the MEAC Northern Division, sitting in fourth place.

Norfolk State (23-23, 12-6 MEAC) held a 1-0 lead after the third inning in Sunday's first game after a home run to left-center field from Nikki Jones, but the Lady Pirates went up in the top of the sixth inning.

After junior Carla Trimble (Riverside, Calif.) walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch, junior Shine Huwe (Green Bay, Wisc.) cracked a home run to center field, her seventh of the season, to give Hampton a 2-1 lead.

Norfolk State stranded four runners in the last two innings – including leaving the bases loaded in the sixth – as freshman Jailynn Jackson (Virginia Beach, Va.) picked up her 11th win of the season, giving up just two hits and striking out nine in a complete-game effort.

Jackson has 18 complete games on the season.

Sophomore Margaret Wilkins (Tustin, Calif.) led the Lady Pirates at the plate in the win, going 2-for-3 and drawing a walk.

Norfolk State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning of Sunday's second game, before extending that lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the third inning on a fielding error.

Hampton cut that lead to 4-2 in the top of the fourth, when freshman Kerissa Burruel (Phoenix, Ariz.) singled up the middle to bring home senior Brooke Boykin (Riverside, Calif.) and freshman Bianca Vallejo (Chandler, Ariz.).

The Spartans scored twice in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-2 lead, and the Lady Pirates got a run in the top of the sixth on an RBI single up the middle from Wilkins to cut Norfolk State's lead to 6-3.

Senior Travonna Byrd (Newport News, Va.) went four innings, striking out five batters, before Jackson struck out three more in two innings of work.

Wilkins went 3-for-4 at the plate in Sunday's second game, while Burruel was 2-for-3.

Danielle Wright got Norfolk State on the board in the first inning on Saturday with a home run to center field to put the Spartans up 1-0, before Norfolk State added another run in the bottom of the third inning.

Two more runs came across in the bottom of the sixth to give the Spartans a 4-0 lead.

Byrd struck out three hitters in five innings of work on Saturday, while Wilkins had two of the Lady Pirates' three hits.

For the series, Wilkins went 7-for-10 at the plate.

The top four teams from each division will advance to the 2012 MEAC Softball Championships, held Thursday through Saturday, May 10-12 in Ormond Beach, Fla.

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.