This Week's Schedule
Wednesday: NSU at North Carolina A&T (DH), 2 p.m., Lady Aggies Softball Complex

Delaware Spring Invitational - Delaware Softball Stadium
Friday: NSU vs. Hartford, 11:15 a.m.; NSU at Delaware, 3:15 p.m.
Saturday: NSU vs. Hartford, 1:30 p.m.; NSU vs. St., Francis (Pa.), 3:45 p.m.
Sunday: NSU vs. Villanova, 11:15 a.m.
Live Stats (Delaware Invitational)

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team will attempt to break a seven-game losing streak and gain some momentum for conference play this week as the Spartans take on North Carolina A&T on Wednesday before heading to Delaware for a tournament this weekend.

NSU will face the Aggies on the road for a doubleheader at 2 p.m. and then take part in the Delaware Spring Invitational beginning Friday at the Delaware Softball Stadium. NSU and host Delaware will play at 3:15 p.m. on Friday, and then the Spartans will battle Hartford at 1:30 p.m. and St. Francis (Pa.) at 3:45 on Saturday. NSU finishes out the tournament Sunday against Villanova at 11:15 a.m.

Live stats will be available for every game of the Delaware Spring Invitational.

NSU owns a 4-12 record on the year after dropping all four games at the Camel Stampede Invitational last weekend. North Carolina A&T stands just 1-14 on the season after playing a difficult non-conference schedule so far.

Three of the four teams in the Delaware tournament own winning records, including Delaware (14-3), St. Francis (Pa.) (11-7), and Villanova (8-7). Like the Spartans, Hartford has struggled early on this season with a 3-8 mark.

Scouting the Spartans
Both freshman Heather Dunning and senior Gipsy Ramirez are hitting better than .300 on the year in all 16 games, with Dunning now at .326 with seven runs and six RBI. Ramirez sits at .320 with eight runs, two doubles and seven RBI. Also hitting above .300 in more limited at bats are senior Chelsea Davis (.368, two homers four RBI) and sophomore Liz Riley (.360, two doubles, four RBI).

Junior Morgan Boyd and sophomore Alina Moriarty have chipped in this year on offense, with Boyd hitting .294 with nine runs and 12 stolen bases and Moriarty posting a .278 average with 10 runs, three doubles, one home run and four RBI. Junior Kathy Cortez leads all players with four doubles and nine RBI to go with a .237 average.

Junior Jamie Schulle and sophomore Liz Riley have pitched all but 4.1 innings on the year. Schulle has 44 strikeouts in 54 innings of work.

Thief
Morgan Boyd is currently 12-of-12 in stolen base attempts this year and ranks 12th in the nation in stolen bases per game at 0.75. Dating back to the end of her freshman year, she has been successful on 38 of her last 39 attempts.

Striking Out
Jamie Schulle needs 24 more strikeouts to move into a tie for third in career strikeouts at NSU.

Delaware
Both Tori Conrad and Hannah George are hitting .395 on the season for the Blue Hens, with Conrad adding two homers and 12 RBI. Lara Andrews leads all players with three homers to go with 11 RBI, while Michelle McKinnon has added 13 runs and 10 RBI with a .356 average. Delaware also has a 1.99 team ERA, led by Kiersten Coffman (5-0, 1.73 ERA, 36.1 innings), Chenxi Jiao (3-2, 1.93 ERA, 32.2 innings) and Taylor Curran (3-1, 1.99 ERA, 24.2 innings).

Hartford
Erica Phillips is the only player for the Hawks hitting above .300 at .333 with six RBI. Amber Andrews leads all players with nine runs scored, while Kate Wacyk has a team-leading seven RBI. The Hawks are hitting just .221 as a team. Zuzana Kudernatschov (4.36 ERA, 25.2 innings) and Kaitlyn Meade (5.43 ERA, 29.2 innings) have done most of the pitching for Hartford.

St. Francis (Pa.)
A pair of players for the Red Flash are hitting above .400, including Chelsy Cosentino (.491) and Taylor Parsons (.404). Both players have scored 16 runs, and Cosentino has also hit six doubles and two homers with 14 RBI. Davina Kachnovitz has totaled 14 runs, four doubles, four home runs and 15 RBI. Ketarah Devries has carried the pitching staff, throwing 59.1 innings and striking out 53 while sporting a 6-4 record and 2.24 ERA.

Villanova
Amanda Marquez bats a team-leading .417 for the Wildcats with two homers and five RBI. Beth Smetana leads all players with three homers and nine RBI, and Shea Palmer has scored a team-leading 11 runs. The team also comes into the weekend with a 3.15 ERA, led by the dominating Kate Poppe (8-3, 1.66 ERA, 65 innings, 77 K's).

Up Next
After this weekend, NSU will dive into conference play beginning with a three-game series at Coppin State March 23-24.