Norfolk State SoftballNORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team will finally begin the MEAC portion of its schedule this weekend when the Spartans host Howard for a three-game series at the NSU Softball Field. The two teams will play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Saturday and a single game at noon on Sunday.
Both
live stats and a
live video feed will be available for all three games. Saturday will also be Military Appreciation Day for the program. Active and former members of the armed forces will join the team on the field for the national anthem, with a special guest set to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
In addition, parking on campus will be limited on Saturday due to the university's 80
th Anniversary Gala taking place in Joseph Echols Hall. Lot 5, next to the softball field, and Lot 4, located on the opposite side of the tennis courts, will be closed. The closest available lot that will be open to the public will be Lot 3, located off Presidential Parkway behind the President's House and next to Wilson Hall.
The Spartans need one more win to give head coach
Heidi Cavallo her 100
th career victory with NSU, which currently sits 1-14 overall on the year.
Howard currently owns an 8-18 overall record and a 2-1 MEAC mark after taking two of three from UMES last weekend. In fact, it was the only one of the three MEAC Northern Division series from last weekend to be played. NSU was scheduled to play at Coppin State, and Hampton was set to play at Morgan State. Both matchups were postponed until later this year.
The Southern Division starts conference play this weekend.
Pleasant SurpriseLeading the way in hitting this year for the Spartans is freshman
Megan Przeslawski. She currently ranks third in the MEAC among regular hitters with a .425 batting average. The next highest rookie ranked in the conference is Delaware State's Vanessa Washington at .358.
Przeslawski and senior
Alina Moriarty (.375) are the only NSU players hitting above .290 on the season.
The Injury BugNSU has already had four players, expected to contribute in the lineup on a regular basic this year, instead miss several games (or expected to miss even more) due to injury. In fact, only three players –
Heather Dunning,
Sommer Di Fulgo and
Robyn Mitchell – have competed in all 15 games this year.
NSU has had at least two starters at every position except catcher, where Di Fulgo has started every game this year. Freshman
Seana Moriarty has also started at second base in 14 of the 15 games.
Series Info.NSU owns a 16-11 edge in the all-time series with Howard. The Spartans have won the last seven meetings with the Bison dating back to the 2012 season, including sweeps of the three-game series each of the last two years.
About HowardThe Bison are hitting almost .300 on the season (.296), thanks in part to an improved offense from a year ago. Al'Asia Davis leads the team with a .425 average, 30 runs, 31 hits, 12 doubles and 13 walks to go with 13 RBI. Dominique Lawrence is hitting .417 but has played in only 14 of the team's 26 games. Imani Ballard (.366, 14 runs, 2 home runs, 19 RBI) and Milan Poindexter (.324, 15 runs, 4 doubles, 16 RBI) have also contributed on the offensive side.
Howard, though, has struggled in the circle, giving up nearly one and a half runs per inning and compiling a 7.16 team ERA. Janessa Flynn (5-9, 5.92 ERA) and Alex Flynn (2-6, 6.02 ERA) have done the majority of the pitching.
Up NextNSU will play a doubleheader on Wednesday at Towson beginning at 2 p.m. and then host UMES next Friday and Saturday for a three-game MEAC series at the NSU Softball Field.
