Nansemond-Suffolk’s softball team ran its winning streak up to seven games with a pair of home victories, beating Southampton Academy 13-7 on Monday and rolling to a 23-1 win against Alliance Christian on Tuesday.

Scores the Saint football team would’ve been happy with a few times this past fall are becoming routine for the Lady Saint offense.

The Lady Saints (11-2) have posted 12 or more runs in all 11 of their wins. In Tuesday’s win, six Lady Saint hitters had three or more hits, led in the contact category by Devin Coyne going 4-for-4 with four runs and led in the power department by Ugi Metzger hitting her fourth home run of the season.

Monday’s win over Southampton Academy was the first NSA win to come by a single-digit margin, and it was a valuable test, said NSA head coach Kim Aston.

Southampton Academy jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first two innings.

“It was good for us to have a game where we had to come back,” Aston said. “Both close games we had before that, we lost by one run (Nandua and Brunswick Academy).”

“(Southampton) hit us well, especially at the beginning of the game, but we also committed four errors. We had two more errors today. That’s more than we’ve had all year, so we have to tighten up our defense,” Aston said.

Alliance was overmatched against Kelsey Ritter’s pitching as the recent Winthrop signee tallied eight strikeouts in the five-inning game.

The Lady Saints hit for the cycle and had a 5-0 lead five hitters into the bottom of the first.

Macy Mears started the slugging with a triple, sending a shot over the centerfielder and racing around easily to third.

Devin Coyne’s bunt scored Mears. Morgan Daughtry lined an RBI double into left-centerfield. Ritter smacked a single to left, plus the ball bounced by the Alliance fielder for a two-base error.

Metzger drove a high fly way past the fence in center for a two-run homer. It’s Metzger’s second out-of-the-park homer to go with two inside-the-park homers.

Mears, Coyne and Daughtry singled and came around to score in the second, taking the lead to 8-0.

Metzger finished 3-for-4 with four RBI. Mears had three runs, two triples and two RBI. Daughtry, Brooke Starling and Nicole Turner each went 3-for-4 with three runs.

Continuing to hit consistently and guarding against complacency are the goals right in front of the Lady Saints, Aston said.

A good example is NSA’s contest this afternoon at Norfolk Academy. NSA won its non-conference game against NA 15-1 a few weeks ago. Aston said her squad can’t look at the rematch as a foregone conclusion.

“We hit the ball extremely well in that game. We have to come out and hit. If we don’t hit, it can be a close game,” Aston said.

Counting Norfolk Academy, six Tidewater Conference games make up the rest of NSA’s regular season, with the conference’s season title likely to come down to a game at Greenbrier Christian on May 5.

Virginia Independent Schools – Softball

Coaches Poll, Div. I

1. Bishop O’Connell 11-1
2. Liberty Christian 12-3
3. Nansemond-Suffolk 10-2
4. St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes 6-0
5. Paul VI 8-3
6. Bishop Ireton 7-4
7. Potomac School 5-2
8. Episcopal 5-1
9. St. Catherine’s 8-4
10. Flint Hill 3-3

(Records as of April 18. Top eight make state tournament.)