BALTIMORE, Md. (May 6, 2017)-The visiting Hampton Lady Pirates softball team used two big scoring innings to defeat Morgan State by a score of 10-2 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) contest on Saturday afternoon at Lois T. Murray Field. With the win, the Lady Pirates would claim their first outright MEAC Northern Division crown since 2013.
 
Hampton improved to 20-20 overall and 15-1 in MEAC play, while the Lady Bears dropped to 23-19, 12-4 in the MEAC. The loss also marked the fourth straight for Morgan State, which suffered just its second home loss this season at the new Lois T. Murray Field.
 
Morgan State, which was searching for its first-ever division title since the league went to division play in 2008, needed to win all three games in the series. With the loss, the Lady Bears must now win at least one of the remaining games in order to wrap up second-place. The two teams will complete their three-game series with a doubleheader on Sunday at noon.
 
The Lady Pirates struck first with a run in the top of the first inning when Taylor Warrick scored on a sacrifice fly hit by Brianna Anderson to make it a 1-0 game.
 
Hampton then opened the game up with five runs in the fourth inning to increase its lead to 6-0. Morgan Crawford singled to left center to score Jada Fields and MacKenzie Wise crossed the plate for the second run of the inning on wild pitch. A single up the middle hit by Ca Blackwell brought Crawford home for a 4-0 lead. Anderson would later draw a bases loaded walk to score Blackwell for the sixth run of the contest.
 
The guests were not done yet, as they would add four more runs in the top of the seventh when Qui Bradford hit a pinch hit grand slam to provide Hampton with a 10-0 lead.
 
The Lady Bears finally got on the board with two runs in the bottom half of the seventh on a two-run single hit up the middle by Audrianna Alvarez to score Kate Vosper and Brianna Jones for the 10-2 final.
 
Alvarez would lead the Lady Bears going 3-for-4 at the plate with 2RBI, while Mikaela Browdy finished 2-for-3. Amy Begg (20-11) was charged with the loss for Morgan State. Begg pitched 3.1 innings and threw two strikeouts.
 
Hampton's Al Babinsack improved to 12-13 on the season and had six strikeouts. Warrick led the Lady Pirates with two hits and a run scored, while Anderson walked twice and drove in 2RBI. Fields finished 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk and two runs scored, while Bradford drove in a game-high four runs on her homerun on her only at bat of the game.