MEAC Tournament
Thursday: NSU vs. B-CU, 1:30 p.m., Ormond Beach Sports Complex
Thursday: NSU vs. TBD, 4:30/7:30 p.m., Ormond Beach Sports Complex
Live Stats

NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State will be one of eight teams that will battle for the right to be crowned 2012 MEAC champion as the conference softball tournament gets underway Thursday at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex. NSU, the No. 3 seed in the Northern Division, will face South No. 2 seed Bethune-Cookman at 1:30 p.m. in the opening round in Ormond Beach, Fla.

Fans can follow all of the action from each NSU game with the live statistical feed. There will be no live video streaming for any of the tournament games.

NSU enters the tournament 23-23 overall and 12-6 in conference play. Bethune-Cookman, the MEAC champion the last two seasons, ended the regular season 26-29 overall, 11-4 in the MEAC. The Wildcats, who got swept by Florida A&M in three games to close out the series, own a 56-8 record in the all-time series with NSU.

With a win over the Wildcats, the Spartans would face the winner of the Delaware State-North Carolina A&T contest. A loss to B-CU would force NSU to defeat the loser of the Coppin State-Florida A&M game for the right to continue playing on Friday.

Delaware State finished the season atop the Northern Division standings, followed by Coppin State, NSU and Hampton. Savannah State, which will face Hampton in the first round of the tournament, earned the top spot in the Southern Division, followed by Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M and North Carolina A&T.

NSU took two of three from both Hampton and Delaware State during the season and also split doubleheaders with Savannah State and N.C. A&T. The Spartans dropped two of three to Coppin State and did not face either FAMU or B-CU this year.

Scouting the Spartans
Sophomore Jamie Schulle and freshman Liz Riley have formed a 1-2 punch in the circle, with Schulle owning a 12-10 record and a 3.12 ERA, striking out 131 in 177.1 innings. Riley carries a 2.89 ERA and an 11-13 record with 56 strikeouts in 126.0 innings.

Freshman Haley Ward leads the team with a .417 average, 33 runs, 10 doubles, a .559 slugging percentage and a .493 on-base percentage to go along with two homers, 18 RBI and 17 walks. Sophomore Morgan Boyd contributes a .339 average with 23 runs and 23 stolen bases, while junior Gipsy Ramirez and freshman Alina Moriarty are each hitting .323. Ramirez has added 18 runs, nine doubles, a homer, 17 RBI, and 18 walks, while Moriarty has tallied 14 runs, five doubles, two homers and 17 RBI.

NSU has also gotten production out of seniors Danielle Wright (.315, 26 runs, nine doubles, two homers, 20 RBI, 15 stolen bases) and Whitney Holland (.275, 15 runs, five doubles, four homers, 19 RBI, 19 walks). Sophomores Kathy Cortez (.254, 19 runs, four doubles, 14 RBI), Nikki Jones (four doubles, two homers, 11 RBI) and Melina Valles (team-leading 22 walks) and freshman Whittni Gray (12 runs, 12 RBI) round out the regular NSU lineup.

NSU in the MEAC Tournament
The Spartans have advanced to the MEAC Championship game twice, in 2001 and '08. Since 2005, though, NSU has won a game in the tournament in just two appearances: in 2008 and then again last year when the Spartans defeated Morgan State to open play.

Nationally Ranked
Kathy Cortez fell to fifth in the nation in toughest-to-strikeout, as she whiffs once every 44.7 at bats, while Whitney Holland stands 34th with a strikeout every 21.8 at bats. Morgan Boyd stands 31st with 0.52 stolen bases per game, while Haley Ward sits 32nd with a .417 average.

Closing In
Danielle Wright needs seven more hits to tie the all-time program mark of 179 hits, set by Brianeisha Eure from 2007-10.

Haley Ward, meanwhile, is the first Spartan to hit better than .400 since Margaret McRobbie and Charo Tate in 1998. Ward needs six more hits to tie Wright's single-season Division I record.

Jamie Schulle, meanwhile, needs three more strikeouts to tie for the third-most K's in a season. She also owns six shutouts on the year, one off the season record of seven set by two players, after already making the most appearances in a season by an NSU pitcher with 40. Through just two seasons, she also sits in a tie for sixth all-time in K's with 202.

About B-CU
The Wildcats are led by Michelle Banuelos-Smith, who leads the team in average (.365), doubles (19), home runs (8), RBI (37) and stolen bases (11). Aurelia Gamch is hitting .331 with 37 runs, six doubles, three triples, three home runs and 27 RBI, while Karina Romero contributes a .324 average with 25 runs, six doubles, four triples and 20 RBI.

Calesha Shelley leads the team with 40 runs while hitting .295, and Kelsey Rodney adds 27 runs, 12 doubles, four home runs and 30 RBI on a .273 average. The Wildcats also get production from Cesley Tafoya (.271, 10 doubles, one home run, 19 RBI), Sabrina Ferguson (.267, 23 runs, 12 doubles, three home runs, 35 RBI), Amari Foster (.253, 22 runs, four doubles, four home runs, 15 RBI) and Shamaria Engram (.208, four home runs, 18 RBI).

The Wildcats have had to rely almost exclusively on Shanel Tolbert in the circle, as she has pitched 312 of the 343.2 total innings for B-CU. She owns a 26-24 record with a 3.21 ERA and 109 strikeouts, finishing every one of the 47 games she has started this year.