2014 MEAC Softball Tournament

Thursday	NSU vs. Florida A&M	1:30 p.m.	Ormond Beach Sports Complex
	NSU vs. North Carolina A&T	4:30 p.m.	Ormond Beach Sports Complex
* Rest of schedule based on Thursday results

Live Stats | Tournament Bracket

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team enters the 2014 MEAC Championship as the No. 3 seed from the Northern Division, and the Spartans will kick-off their tournament against the No. 2 seed from the South, Florida A&M, on Thursday.

First pitch is set to be thrown at 1:30 p.m. at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex in Ormond Beach, Fla. It will mark the seventh year in a row the tournament will be held at that location.

Fans can follow all of the action of the NSU softball team at the tournament with the free live stats feed available at www.nsuspartans.com.

Following that first game on Thursday, NSU will play a second game later in the day in the double-elimination tournament. The Spartans would play at 4:30 p.m. if they lose the first game or at 7 if they win that first contest.

The Spartans own a 19-24 overall record on the year and a 12-6 MEAC mark. Florida A&M finished the regular season 21-27 overall and 9-6 in conference play. Those records include a forfeited win over North Carolina Central. That contest, which got rained out earlier in the year, allowed the Rattlers to jump over Savannah State on Monday to lay claim to the South's No. 2 seed.

NSU has dropped seven of its last eight games heading into the tournament but enters the championship looking for redemption from last year. After winning five straight games in the 2013 tournament to advance all the way to the if-necessary game of the tournament final, the Spartans fell in that very last game to fall short of their first-ever MEAC title.

MEAC Tournament Opening Round
Tops seeds Bethune-Cookman (12-3) from the South and Delaware State (15-3) from the North will face off against the No. 4 seeds from the opposite division. B-CU will take on Coppin State (7-10), while DSU will play North Carolina A&T (8-7). Those games start at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

In the other 2 vs. 3 matchup at 1:30 p.m., No. 2 seed Hampton (15-3) will battle it out against South No. 3 seed Savannah State (9-6).

From there, the winners and losers will play each other later in the day, with the third round of the winner's bracket and the entire loser's bracket set for Friday. The championship round begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

MEAC Tournament History
Last year's run to the championship round, which included four straight wins in the loser's bracket alone, marked the second time NSU has advanced to the final. The Spartans also got there in 2008. Those two years are also the only two times in the last 10 years they have won more than one game at the tournament.

NSU has competed in the MEAC Championship in 15 of the 17 years in the league. The Spartans are 22-28 overall in the MEAC tournament.

Conference Finish
This year marks the third year in a row the Spartans have finished with a better-than-.500 record in the MEAC and just the fourth time overall along with the 2007 team (13-1). NSU has posted a 39-15 MEAC record since moving to the Northern Division in 2012.

Record Topping
The long wait is finally over, as NSU topped its previous fast-pitch record for homers in a season last weekend. Senior Nikki Jones hit a solo homer on Sunday, the 36^th of the year for the Spartans. The previous record stood at 35 set in 1997.

FAMU Series History
The Rattlers own a 45-13 edge in the all-time series with NSU. The two teams have played in each of the last two conference tournaments, with the Spartans prevailing last year by an 8-7 score thanks to a Kathy Cortez walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh.

In 2012, the Rattlers won 7-4 in 10 innings to knock NSU out of the tournament.

Scouting FAMU
The Rattlers dropped two of three to Bethune-Cookman last weekend in their last games of the regular season. Ashleigh Minter has been the team's primary starter, as she owns a 11-11 record with a 3.47 ERA in 119.0 innings. Kenya Pererira (5-7, 3.81 ERA) and Amber Fullwood (4-8, 4.48 ERA) have also started more than 10 games this year.

Fullwood also leads the team with a .328 batting average, tallying nine doubles, two homers and 24 RBI. Denise Anderson owns team-leading totals of five homers and 30 RBI with a .324 average, with Kieifi Myrick hitting .304 with 22 runs, five doubles, four homers and 22 RBI. As a team, the Rattlers are hitting .259, with opponents at an even .300.