This Weekend
Saturday (Senior Day): Delaware State at NSU (DH), 1 p.m., NSU Softball Field
Sunday: Delaware State at NSU, Noon, NSU Softball Field
Live Stats | Live Video

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team will welcome Delaware State to the NSU Softball Field this weekend for a three-game series, the last home games of the 2013 season for the Spartans. Saturday will be Senior Day, and prior to the start of the doubleheader NSU will honor its four seniors.

The Spartans and Hornets will play two on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., with Senior Day festivities starting at 12:30. Then on Sunday, the two teams will finish out the series with a single game at noon. On Saturday, the Spartans will honor their four seniors: Gipsy Ramirez, Chelsea Davis, Marjorie Pettitt and Gillian Giarrizzo.

Live stats and a live video stream for all three games will be available.

NSU will look to maintain its first-place standing in the MEAC Northern Division. The Spartans currently own an 11-1 record in the conference and a 20-18 record overall and have already locked up a spot in the MEAC tournament in May in Ormond Beach, Fla.

NSU has secured just its third-ever winning season in the MEAC and second straight after going 12-6 last year. The only other time the Spartans finished better than .500 in the previous 15 years in the MEAC was in 2007 (13-1).

The Hornets sit in third place with an 8-2 record behind second-place Hampton (7-1), which took two of three from the Hornets earlier this season. Delaware State enters the weekend with a 15-25 overall mark.

Scouting the Spartans
NSU's offense continued to shine on Tuesday at North Carolina Central, as the Spartans pounded out 28 hits and raised their season batting average to .338. Junior Kathy Cortez (5-for-9), sophomore Alina Moriarty (5-for-8) and freshman Whitney Williams (4-for-7) all had big days. Williams raised her average to .381 on the year with 20 runs, seven doubles, one homer and 20 RBI.

Sophomore Haley Ward continues to lead the team in hitting, posting a .521 average on the year with 31 runs, 11 doubles, five triples, five home runs and 34 RBI. Moriarty is chasing Ward in several categories, hitting .375 with 35 runs, 12 doubles, five homers and 39 RBI. Cortez raised her average to .318 with eight doubles and 21 RBI, while outfielders Morgan Boyd (.314, 38 runs, 22 stolen bases) and Heather Dunning (.330, 26 runs, 13 RBI, nine stolen bases) have set the table up with their speed on the basepaths.

NSU has eight regular or semi-regular starters hitting above .300, including seniors Gipsy Ramirez (.350, 24 runs, six doubles, 24 RBI) and Chelsea Davis (.409 in 44 at bats with three doubles, three homers and 15 RBI).

Junior Jamie Schulle lowered her ERA to 3.57 after a complete game shutout of N.C. Central, posting a 13-10 overall record with 95 strikeouts in 127.1 innings. Sophomore Liz Riley owns a 6-7 record with a 4.87 ERA in 96.1 innings of work.

Closing in on Season Records
Several players could set NSU Division I records before the season is out, including Haley Ward, who needs 10 more hits to tie the mark set by Danielle Wright in 2011 (59). Alina Moriarty needs eight more RBI and five more doubles to tie the records set by Charo Tate (47 RBI, 1998) and Jeanette Sauceda (17 doubles, 2008).

Morgan Boyd needs nine more runs and six more stolen bases to tie the D-I marks of Tate (47 runs, 1998) and Wright (28 stolen bases, 2011).

As a team, NSU could potentially set D-I records for hits, doubles, home runs and batting average.

Nationally Ranked
Following last weekend's play, NSU stood 15th in the nation in batting average (.333) and 17th in scoring (6.53 runs per game). The Spartans also stood 23rd in doubles (1.56), 57th in triples (0.22), 67th in slugging percentage (.448) and 96th in stolen bases (1.11) out of 290 teams.

Haley Ward stands 10th in the nation in triples with five, while Morgan Boyd sits 21st in runs scored per game (1.06) and 22nd in stolen bases (0.62). Alina Moriarty ranks in the top 60 in sacrifice flies (31st, 3), doubles (51st, 0.31) and RBI (57th, 1.0), while Melina Valles also stands 51st in walks per game (0.67).

Ward's batting average (.521) would rank her first in the country if she had played in 75 percent of NSU's games so far. Emilee Koerner of Notre Dame leads the country with a .504 average. Ward will be above 75 percent following the Hampton series at the end of the season if she plays in every game up until then.

What about the MEAC?
Heading into the week, Haley Ward led the MEAC with a .523 batting average and also ranked first in slugging (.895), on-base percentage (.533) and triples (5), second in total bases (77), third in RBI (32), fourth in hits (45) and doubles (10) and eighth in runs (28).

Alina Moriarty ranked second in RBI (36), third in doubles (11) fourth in runs (31), fifth in hits (43) and total bases (68). Morgan Boyd sat first in runs (36) and stolen bases (21), and Valles also ranked first in walks (22).

Jamie Schulle stood fourth in strikeouts with 90 and in wins with 12 while appearing in the second-most games (31) of any MEAC player.

Delaware State
Nicole Gazzolla ranks second in the MEAC behind Ward in hitting at .421 to go with 31 runs, 12 RBI and 16 stolen bases. The Hornets also have four other regular starters hitting above .300, including Jessica Madrid (.355, 24 runs, 16 RBI), Sandy Hawthorne (.311, seven doubles, 19 RBI), Ashley Bennett (.310, four homers, 16 RBI) and Rochelle Sablay (.310, 12 doubles, 29 RBI).

Stephanie Sarris owns an 8-7 record with a 3.02 ERA, striking out 79 in 90.1 innings. Rachel Meagley (3-10, 4.04 ERA in 78.0 innings) and Jennifer Fischbach (4-8, 4.48 ERA in 79.2 innings) round out the three-player pitching staff.

Up Next
NSU will play at George Mason for two games next Wednesday beginning at 4 p.m. before getting next weekend off, the first weekend off all year.