ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – Thanks largely to the long ball, the Hampton University softball team overcame two errors and four hit batters Thursday afternoon at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex, walking off with a 4-3 win over Savannah State in the first round.
The Lady Pirates (28-18) advance to the next round, where they will face Bethune-Cookman, the top seed in the MEAC Southern Division, at 7 p.m.
Hampton, the North’s No. 2 seed, has now won 13 straight games.
It started in the bottom of the seventh, when freshman Taylor Clark was hit by a pitch and later advanced to second on a wild pitch with the score tied 3-3. Sophomore McKalee Rouse then singled to left field to score Clark and end the game.
Savannah State (25-20), the South’s No. 3 seed, got on the board in the top of the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead when Torrian Wright singled and advanced to third on an error to bring in a run.
Hampton answered in the bottom of the third inning, when freshman Danielle Budden, a First Team All-MEAC selection, hit her team-best sixth home run of the season, a solo shot to left field that tied the game at 1-1.
But Savannah State regained the lead in the top of the fourth, pushing across a run after a hit batter and a throwing error to go up 2-1.
The Lady Pirates immediately tied things back up, thanks to a leadoff homer from junior Kerissa Burruel, her second of the season. Freshman Heather Baccus added a solo shot of her own in the top of the sixth, her third of the season, to give Hampton a 3-2 lead.
But Savannah State tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the seventh on an RBI single from Amanda Hallman.
Burruel and Baccus each had two hits for the Lady Pirates.
Junior Jailynn Jackson, the two-time reigning MEAC Pitcher of the Year, picked up her 18th win of the season, striking out four and scattering seven hits over seven innings of work.