HAMPTON, Va. – With a doubleheader sweep over Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday at the Lady Pirates Softball Stadium, the Hampton University softball team snapped an eight-game losing streak.
The Lady Pirates won the first game 5-4 before taking the second game 5-3.
Hampton is now 14-24 overall and 6-5 in MEAC play.
Freshman
Hope Sobelewski got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning of the first game, sending her second home run of the season sailing off the scoreboard in left center field to give the Lady Pirates a 1-0 lead.
Hampton pushed another run across in the third, when junior
Danielle Budden scored on a wild pitch to give the Lady Pirates a 2-0 lead. Budden then drove in another run in the fifth, bringing senior
Diamond Ponds home on a sac fly to put Hampton on top 3-0.
Meanwhile, freshman
Allie Hotetz was dominating in the circle; she had struck out UMES' first six batters of the game and had seven strikeouts after three innings.
She took a perfect game into the fifth and a no-hitter into the sixth.
But the Hawks took full advantage of that hit, going on to score four runs in the frame to take a 4-3 lead. The Lady Pirates fought back in the bottom of the sixth; after sophomore
MacKenzie Wise walked, junior
Kayla DeSchepper brought her home with a triple to right center field to tie the game at 4-4.
Hotetz then brought DeSchepper home on a sac fly to give the Lady Pirates a 5-4 lead.
DeSchepper had two hits to lead the Lady Pirates at the plate. Hotetz matched her season high with eight strikeouts, picking up her sixth win of the season.
The first three innings of the second game went by without either team scoring, before Hampton broke through in the bottom of the fourth. DeSchepper singled to left center to bring home both Wise and senior
Taylor McCoy, giving the Lady Pirates a 2-0 lead.
That lead opened up even more in the fifth; after Budden tripled to right field, she scored on a single from Sobelewski. McCoy then doubled, with Sobelewski advancing to third – before both Sobelewski and McCoy scoring on a double from sophomore
Jada Fields.
That gave Hampton a 5-0 lead.
UMES scored three runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 5-3, but that was as close as the Hawks would get.
Budden, Sobelewski, and McCoy each had two hits in the second game, while Fields and DeSchepper each drove in two runs.
Fields struck out two and picked up her fifth win of the season.
The series will conclude on Sunday at 12 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.
