Battle of the Bay
Saturday: NSU at Hampton, 2 p.m., Lady Pirates Softball Stadium (ESPNU)
Sunday: NSU at Hampton (DH), Noon, Lady Pirates Softball Stadium
Live Stats | Free Live Audio (Sunday)
NORFOLK, Va. – The regular season title in the MEAC Northern Division is up for grabs as the Norfolk State softball team closes out the regular season this weekend at rival Hampton. The two teams will play a single game on Saturday at 2 p.m. in a live broadcast on ESPNU. They finish out the series with a doubleheader at noon on Sunday at the Lady Pirates Softball Stadium.
Live stats will be available for all three games here. A free live audio broadcast for Sunday's doubleheader will be available here. Ross Gordon will have the call.
Both NSU and Hampton enter the weekend 14-1 in conference play. Whichever team wins at least two out of three against the other will be the regular season champion in the North and the division's No. 1 seed heading into the MEAC tournament next week. The loser of the series will finish as the No. 2 seed in the North.
The Spartans own an overall record of 25-18, while Hampton carries a 28-22 overall mark this season. The Pirates have won 17 of their last 21 games, while the Spartans have been victorious in 18 of their last 21 contests.
Regular Season Title
NSU has never won a MEAC regular season title. The closest the Spartans came to doing so was in 2007, when NSU went 13-1 and finished second overall behind Hampton. The MEAC did not have divisions that year. The Spartans have finished third in division play a few times, but never higher than that, including with last year's 12-6 mark in the North.
NSU's 14 MEAC wins this year are the most ever for the program. The last time the program had more than 14 conference wins in a year came in 1991 when the Spartans went 15-3 in the Division II CIAA.
Winning Season
NSU's 13-1 finish in 2007 and 12-6 season in 2012 marked the only times before this year that the Spartans ended the year above .500 in the MEAC since joining the league prior to the 1998 season. The Spartans are also guaranteed to finish with an overall record above .500 for just the third time in the Division I era. NSU went 24-15 in 1998 playing a watered-down schedule, and 26-25 in 2007 when the team set the D-I record for most wins in a year.
MEAC Rankings
Here is where NSU ranks in the MEAC (stats are incomplete on the MEAC site)
Player Category Rank Total
Alina Moriarty RBI 2nd 45
Home Runs T-2nd 7
Runs 4th 40
Doubles 4th 13
Batting Avg. 5th .378
Slugging % 5th .629
Hits 5th 54
Total Bases 5th 90
Morgan Boyd Runs 2nd 43
Stolen Bases 2nd 29
Whitney Williams Batting Avg. 7th .373
Gipsy Ramirez On-Base % T-8th .429
Melina Valles Walks T-2nd 24
Jamie Schulle Wins 3rd 15
Strikeouts T-3rd 102
Opp. Batting. Avg. 4th .265
ERA 5th 3.30
Appearances T-5th 34
Liz Riley ERA 8th 4.35
Haley Ward Triples 1st 5
Doubles T-1st 15
Total Bases 2nd 96
RBI 3rd 37
Hits 4th 56
Runs T-8th 33
Home Runs 10th 5
Because Ward has not played in 75 percent of NSU's games, she is not officially the MEAC leader in several categories. If she were, she would rank first in batting average (.523), slugging (.897) and on-base percentage (.547).
National Rankings
This is where NSU ranks nationally in several categories
Category Nat. Rank Total
Doubles/Game 10th 1.60
Batting Average 13th .333
Scoring 16th 6.44
Slugging % 47th .459
Double Plays/Game 68th 0.33
Stolen Bases/Game 76th 1.21
Triples/Game 80th 0.19
W-L % 96th .581
NSU Players also rank nationally
Player Category Rank Total
Morgan Boyd Stolen Bases/Game 12th 0.71
Runs/Game 25th 1.07
Alina Moriarty Sac Flies 18th 4
RBI/Game 33rd 1.07
Doubles/Game 50th 0.30
Runs/Game 62nd 0.93
Haley Ward Triples 12th 5
Melina Valles Walks/Game 95th 0.60
Jamie Schulle Wins 97th 15
Ward has not played in 75 percent of NSU's games yet (she will reach that threshold if she plays all three games this weekend), so she is ineligible for the per-game national stats. If she was eligible, she would rank first in batting average (by .033 points), second in doubles per game, fifth in triples, seventh in slugging, 12th in RBI, tied for 12th in on-base percentage and 27th in runs.
Season Records
Several players are approaching or have already surpassed some of NSU's D-I season records. (Records already surpassed in italics)
Player Category Total D-I Record
Haley Ward Doubles 16 17 (Jeanette Sauceda, 2008)
Hits 58 59 (Danielle Wright, 2011)
Batting Avg. .527 .431 (Margaret McRobbie, 1998)
Total Bases 99 94 (Charo Tate, 1998)
Slugging % .900 .855 (Charo Tate, 1998)
On-Base % .550 .519 (Charo Tate, 1998)
Morgan Boyd Runs 44 47 (Charo Tate, 1998)
Stolen Bases 29 28 (Danielle Wright, 2011)
Alina Moriarty RBI 46 47 (Charo Tate, 1998)
Jamie Schulle Wins 15 17 (Alyssa Velazquez, 2009)
The same goes for team records in the D-I era
Category 2013 Total D-I Record
Doubles 69 76 (2008)
Home Runs 23 25 (2006)
Hits 407 434 (2008)
Total Bases 561 589 (2008)
Career Records
Here's where several players rank in NSU's career record book
Player Category Total NSU Rank
Morgan Boyd Stolen Bases 76 9th
Hits 134 13th
Gipsy Ramirez Infield Assists 279 1st
Hit by Pitch 16 2nd
At Bats 491 6th
Games Played 174 8th
Hits 146 T-8th
Doubles 22 T-9th
Games Started 162 9th
Melina Valles Walks 66 6th
Haley Ward Batting Avg. .462 2nd
Doubles 27 5th
Slugging % .704 7th
Jamie Schulle Strikeouts 310 2nd
Appearances 100 3rd
Starts 76 4th
Shutouts 9 5th
Innings Pitched 436.0 5th
Wins 34 7th
Complete Games 35 10th
Moriarty, Williams Heating Up
Alina Moriarty had an 11-game hit streak snapped at George Mason but is still hitting 30-for-66 (.455) over her last 19 games with seven doubles, three home runs and 29 RBI. Whitney Williams, meanwhile, is 28-for-67 (.418) in her last 22 games.
Thief
Morgan Boyd is currently 29-of-29 in stolen base attempts this year. Dating back to the end of her freshman year in 2011, Boyd has been successful on 55 of her last 56 attempts.
Get Ahead Early
NSU is 20-3 when scoring first but 5-15 when the opposition scores first.
ESPNU Appearance
This will mark the eighth straight season ESPNU has broadcast a MEAC softball game, and the third time NSU has appeared on the telecast. NSU hosted Florida A&M on May 5, 2007, at the NSU Softball Field, and then hosted Hampton the next year on April 30, 2008.
Up Next
NSU will play in the first round of the MEAC tournament on May 9 at either 10 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.
