NORFOLK, Va. — Sophomore Dalika Wallace hit her first collegiate triple and added a home run in her return to her hometown Tidewater area in leading the North Carolina Central University softball team to a 5-0 victory in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader at Norfolk State University.
 
The Spartans returned the favor with their own shutout in the nightcap, 1-0, as the two Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) members split the doubleheader. The Lady Eagles ended the day at 11-22 overall and Norfolk State at 19-24.
 
NCCU will remain in Virginia to play at Hampton University on Wednesday with the twin bill beginning at 1 p.m.
 
GAME ONE: NC Central 5, Norfolk State 0
 
Senior pitcher Courtney Mirabella recorded her sixth shutout win, which featured 13 strikeouts. Mirabella took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and all five hits she allowed were singles as she picked up her 10th win of the season.
 
Wallace supplied the run support Mirabella needed with a two-run triple to cap a four-run first inning and a solo home run in the sixth. The Newport News, Virginia, product belted her triple down the right field line while launching her homer to the opposite direction over the left-field fence to finish with three RBI.
 
NCCU's early scoring was aided by two Spartan errors. The first two runs were plated on singles off the bats of freshman Jacobia Johnson and junior Aleyah Evans.
 
Johnson matched Wallace with two hits as the Lady Eagles outhit NSU, 8-5.
 
Mirabella fanned a pair of Spartans in each of the first four innings and she had nine K's before senior Seana Moriarty collected the hosts first hit with a single down the right-field line with one out in the fifth. Moriarty had two of NSU's five hits.
 
GAME TWO: Norfolk State 1, NC Central 0
 
Junior starter Hunter Halford kept the Lady Eagles off the scoreboard as NCCU had to settle for a split of a doubleheader for the fifth consecutive time. Halford (6-9) only had one strikeout, but she was keeping the Lady Eagles from making good contact as all but one out occurred in the infield and just three of the five hits allow reached the grass beyond the infield.
 
Mirabella took the pitcher's circle for the nightcap and kept Norfolk State scoreless for another five innings before an error led to the contests lone run in the sixth. Halford helped her own cause with the RBI on a fielder's choice play.
 
The Lady Eagles outhit the Spartans, 5-4, but they left six runners on base, including runners in scoring position in the second, fourth and sixth innings.
 
Johnson and Wallace both singled as they finished with three hits apiece on the day. Senior Lauren Sitterson had NCCU's only extra-base hit with a two-out double in the sixth. Sophomore Ava Dolan – who drew a walk in the opener, but had her hit streak come to an end at 13 games – returned to the hit column in the finale with a single in the third.
 
Senior Jaylene Pryor had half of the Spartans' four hits. All nine NSU hits on the day against Mirabella were singles.