Live Stats

NORFOLK, Va. – With the 2011 regular season coming to a close on a 12-game win streak, the Norfolk State softball team will take that momentum to the MEAC tournament this week at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex in Ormond Beach, Fla., looking for its first conference title.

As the No. 3 seed from the Southern Division, NSU will face the North's No. 2 seed in Morgan State Thursday at 1:30 p.m. on Field 2 at the sports complex. With a win over the Bears, the Spartans would play the winner of the Bethune-Cookman/Howard game at 7 p.m. Thursday on Field 1. A loss to the Bears would force the Spartans to play the loser of the Florida A&M/Coppin State game directly after their first game at 4:30 on Field 2.

Live stats for all of NSU's games at the tournament can be found here.

Only five teams have ever won the MEAC Championship in softball, but there have been four different champions in the last four years. The Spartans have never won the MEAC title since moving to Division I in 1998, but NSU did claim five CIAA Championships from 1987-97.

The Spartans did not make the tournament last year and came up short in 2009, losing both of their two games. In 2008, NSU lost twice to Delaware State, the second time coming in the championship game. The Spartans also advanced to the championship game in 2000.

Final 2011 MEAC Standings
North                                     MEAC    Overall
Delaware State                   11 - 4     29 - 17
Coppin State                        9 - 6       16 - 14
Morgan State                       9 - 6       16 - 25
Howard                                 8 - 7       16 - 25
Hampton                              6 - 9       13 - 35
Maryland Eastern Shore   2 - 13      7 - 40

South                                   MEAC    Overall
Bethune-Cookman           12 - 0     28 - 23
Florida A&M                        8 - 4       25 - 24
Norfolk State                      6 - 6       22 - 21
South Carolina State        3 - 9       10 - 42
North Carolina A&T          1 - 11     8 - 34

Longest Win Streak in 14 Years
NSU ran its win streak to 12 games with the three-game sweep of North Carolina Central last weekend, marking the longest such stretch since the school record 18-game streak in 1997 and thus the longest in the Division I era. NSU won 17 in a row in 1994 and 15 in '93, and has won 12 in a row on numerous other occasions.

Good Luck Striking Her Out
Catcher Kathy Cortez ranks eighth in the nation in terms of toughest to strikeout. In 129 at bats, Cortez has struck out four times, or once every 32.3 at bats.

No Sauceda? No Problem
Senior Jeanette Sauceda missed last weekend's three-game series at NC Central, but she missed it for good reason. Sauceda was one of 25 current or former NSU student-athletes who received their diploma over the weekend. NSU's offense did not miss a beat without one of its best hitters, as the team went a combined 41-of-103 (.398 batting average) in the three game sweep of the Eagles.

Spartans Now Up to 300
NSU raised its batting average to an even .300 with its three-game outburst against NC Central, the best mark by an NSU team since 1998, when the Spartans hit .343 in their first year in Division I. Eight players on that team hit .300 or better, led by Margaret McRobbie and Charo Tate at .431 and .427, respectively.

NSU has five everyday players hitting above .300 this year, also the most since that '98 squad. The Spartans rank 47th in the country out of a total of 300 teams in batting average.

Wright Sets Two New D-I Standards
Danielle Wright added two more stolen bases and seven more hits over the weekend and now owns the D-I record for both categories. She broke the previous mark of 24 stolen bases set by Cassandra Petway in 2005 and 55 hits set by Brianeisha Eure in 2008. The all-time program record for stolen bases stands at 52 by Ursel Bruton in 1987 and at 73 for hits by Lekita Wilson in 1997. Wright's .386 average and 42 runs scored are the best marks by an everyday player since 1998.

On Fire
Casey Pomeroy has given up just five earned runs in the last 43.1 innings, good for a 0.81 ERA over that span. She has now won seven straight games without a loss. Gipsy Ramirez is riding a 12-game hit streak that has raised her average by more than 100 points, while Morgan Boyd has hit safely in 25 of the last 28 games. In the last five games, Whitney Holland his hitting 9-of-18 with 13 RBI, Candice Vasquez is 7-of-15, and Danielle Wright is 12-of-21 with 10 runs and nine RBI.

MEAC Leaderboard
Danielle Wright ranks tied for first in the league in stolen bases (26), tied for second in home runs (8), runs (42), hits (56) and total bases (87), fourth in at bats (145), fifth in RBI (33) and slugging (.600) and sixth in batting average (.386).

Whitney Holland ranks sixth with 32 RBI, and Melina Valles stands seventh with 18 walks. Morgan Boyd ranks third with 22 stolen bases and 10th with a .365 average, while Jeanette Sauceda, despite playing in 42 of the team's 45 games, does not have enough plate appearances for her .377 average to qualify.

In the circle, Casey Pomeroy stands fourth in wins (12), ERA (2.54) and strikeouts (92) and fifth in opposing batting average (.248). Jamie Schulle ranks fifth in strikeouts per game (4.99), one spot below Pomeroy.