(Washington, D.C.) – Saturday afternoon, the Delaware State softball team (22-16, 15-2 MEAC) continued its winning ways by defeating the Howard Bison (7-31, 3-11 MEAC) on the road in a doubleheader, 6-1 and 14-1 (five innings).
With these victories, the Hornets have now won 11 consecutive conference games, in addition to churning out eight straight victories overall. Howard, on the other hand, has now dropped 15 in a row to the Hornets, with its last victory occurring way back on April 3, 2011 (6-1).
Tomorrow at 12 p.m., the Columbia Blue & Red will close out Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play, in hopes of sweeping the regular season series with the Bison for the fifth consecutive season.
Below is a breakdown of each game from Saturday's doubleheader:
Game 1: Delaware State 6 – Howard 1
Junior Nicole Brock moved to 8-5 on the year with a stellar performance, allowing six hits, one walk, no earned and tallying seven strikeouts. The lone run given up occurred in the second, with outfielder Al'Asia Davis (double) scoring from second, after a throwing error by infielder Jordan Stamps to first.
DSU tallied seven hits, led by the MEAC's leader in that department, Nicole Gazzola (66), going 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored. In the fourth, Gazzola drove in outfielder Khaliyah Flournory (fielder's choice) and Stamps (single) with a single to center to make it a 3-1 ball game.
The sixth inning featured Stamps (walk) coming around to score for a second time, thanks to Gazzola churning out a double to center field. Infielder Chloe Oro managed to bring in senior Nkili Matthews (single) from third, despite being throwing out at first, while catcher Sandy Hawthorne capped off the frame by driving in Gazzola with a single for the game's final run.
Game 2: Delaware State 14 – Howard 1 (Five Innings)
Delaware State tied a season-high in hits (16) in game two's convincing win, along with scoring double-digits runs for the 11th time this season. The Hornets also connected for a season-high four home runs, with two coming off the bat of Stamps (4).
The first inning began with a bang for DSU, scoring five runs on five hits with all nine batters coming to bat. Throughout the frame, Hawthorne RBI-doubled to bring in Oro (single), whereas Flournory drove in a pair of runs with a single to left field. HU starter Tara Castellanos (1-5) failed to record an out before getting yanked in favor of Alex Flynn (5-14).
The next frame featured the Hornets exploding for eight runs on seven hits to make it a 13-0 contest, highlighted by Washington (8), Jones (7) and Stamps all connecting for home runs in consecutive at-bats. Before Washington sparked DSU's home run outburst, Hawthorne churned out her first triple of the season to bring in Gazzola (single) and Oro (error). Hawthorne finished the game with a 3-for-4 performance, falling a homer shy of hitting for the cycle.
To put the finishing touches on the Hornets' huge offensive output, Stamps connected for a solo bomb in the third to make it a 14-0 ball game. Stamps also added a walk to her game two statline.
As a team, nine different Hornets tallied at least one hit, led by Gazzola and Hawthorne both totaling three each. Scoring wise, Gazzola, Oro, Hawthorne, Jones and Stamps all touched home plate twice.
In the circle, junior
Tara Tursellino (12-7) turned in another solid performance, allowing five hits, no earned runs, no walks and fanning five HU batters. Tursellino is now a perfect 8-0 in MEAC play with a 1.49 ERA and a team-high 52 strikeouts.
