Spartan Softball This WeekendNORFOLK, Va. - A year after a solid second-place finish in the division and a 13-5 record in the MEAC, the Norfolk State softball team will enter the 2016 season looking to again contend for a divisional crown and more. As they do every year, the Spartans lost several key seniors but return enough talent to make another run. If several returning players and freshmen can take a step forward in their development or find the production they had in previous seasons, NSU should be in solid shape when conference play starts.
The biggest loss from a year ago is outfielder
Alina Moriarty, one of NSU's best-ever players in the Division I era and the team's only all-conference honoree from 2015. Also gone are everyday catcher
Sommer Di Fulgo, utility specialist
Robyn Mitchell – a starter at first base and the designated player spot – and starting pitcher
Liz Riley. How efficiently NSU fills those holes will play a part in determining how far the team goes this season under sixth year head coach
Heidi Cavallo.
Senior third baseman
Whitney Williams returns as the program's most experienced and productive hitter. Despite missing several games last year, she still led the team in average (.362), home runs (7) and RBI (26). A dangerous middle-of-the-order hitter, Williams will again be counted on to anchor NSU's lineup as the rest of it shakes out over time.
She'll be joined by a pair of upperclassmen looking to regain their all-conference form from two seasons ago. Senior outfielder
Heather Dunning and junior first baseman
Kayla McNair each missed at least nine games last year due to various injuries. McNair, another dangerous power hitter, carried a .284 average, while Dunning finished right behind her at .282. Both were significantly down from their 2014 campaigns, but both have the talent to turn it around and make the Spartan lineup feared in 2016.
Dunning anchored the outfield along with Moriarty and current junior
Devon Bitler. After a slow start, Bitler closed the year on an eight-game hitting streak to raise her average to .242 while ranking third on the team in runs scored with 16. Like Dunning, she also brings plenty of speed to the lineup. She will be looking to build off her strong finish and take another step forward this year, in much the same way sophomore
Seana Moriarty will too.
The younger sister of Alina,
Seana Moriarty hit .260 in her freshman campaign last year while holding down the everyday second base job. She ranked second on the team to her sister with seven doubles and was one of six players in double digits in RBI with 11. NSU returns its entire infield from last year aside from Mitchell, who replaced McNair at first base from time to time.
Senior outfielder
Megan Dunning and sophomore
Megan Przeslawski ranked third and fourth on the team in average last year behind Williams and Moriarty, albeit in fewer at bats in Dunning's case. The twin sister of Heather,
Megan Dunning hit .333 in 36 at bats with four extra base hits. In her 11 starts, she saw time in the revolving door that was right field as well as at the DP spot, producing several big games against conference foes.
Przeslawski, meanwhile, was a .292 hitter a year ago and ranked third on the team with 17 RBI in her freshman season. She filled in for Williams at third base but also started 16 times at DP. Przeslawski showed a solid bat but also made a splash late in the year in the circle, giving up two earned runs with nine strikeouts in 10 innings of work over her last two outings. She also had nine strikeouts in just 3.2 innings in a contest at Coppin State late in the year as well.
However, she only pitched in 11 games because NSU used Riley and currently sophomore
Marissa Marrero as the team's two regular starting pitchers. But with Riley and her team-leading 3.54 ERA gone, the Spartans' pitching rotation will need to be sorted out in the preseason. Marrero threw 109 innings last year while making 21 starts. A groundball pitcher, she collected eight of the team's 14 wins.
Another hat thrown into the ring of NSU's pitching rotation is freshman
Hunter Halford. One of five newbies this year, she arrives after mowing down the opposition during her time at Northside High School in Jacksonville, N.C. As a senior she had 200 strikeouts with a 1.25 ERA and also hit .700 with 29 RBI. She was named the conference's player of the year her last three seasons at Northside. Figuring out the pitching rotation and who will hit at the DP spot, and where Halford falls into all of that, will be questions the coaching staff will need to answer fairly quickly.
Another question mark involves shortstop, where junior
Mikki Haury and redshirt junior
Hannah Haustein return after battling it out last year. Both finished under .200 at the plate in a combined 98 at bats, though, leaving the starting spot still wide open as the 2016 season begins. Haury did make 21 starts at the position compared to 10 for Haustein, who also started six games at either third base or right field. The duo will also be up against freshman shortstop/utility player
Stephanie Davenport. After sitting out her senior high school season, Davenport will need to knock the rust off to earn a starting spot.
It is a little more cut and dry at catcher, where two freshmen,
Sydnee Brown and
Kylee Lopez, will contend for the starting spot behind the plate that was occupied by Di Fulgo in every game and every inning last year. Lopez arrives from across town at Granby HS, where she batted .463 as a senior and was a second-team all-conference selection as a junior. Brown earned honorable mention all-conference as a senior at L.C. Bird HS.
One other name to remember is freshman outfielder
Shelby DesChamps, a player in contention with
Megan Dunning, and possible one or two other players, for the third outfield position next to incumbent starters Bitler and
Heather Dunning. DesChamps hit .400 her senior year at Bayside HS and was a second-team all-state honoree.
In the end, whoever does not win any of those open positions will also be in play at DP along with NSU's pitchers – But will they exclusively pitch? Hit when they pitch? Only hit when they aren't pitching?
Cavallo is looking for more consistency at the plate and on defense at certain key positions, something NSU struggled with last year. Although several spots are open now, whichever players show that consistent bat and glove will find themselves in the everyday lineup as the year rolls along. But with a roster of just 15, and with minor injuries inevitable for NSU or any team for that matter, everyone will be pitching in for the Spartans this season.
ScheduleNSU's schedule will be lighter on the front end, with just a doubleheader against George Washington at home on Feb. 27 serving as the only contests for the Spartans during the first few weeks of the official NCAA season. They will also compete at Delaware and Liberty for a pair of tournaments in early March while also hosting Radford (March 9) and UMBC (March 15) and traveling to North Carolina A&T (March 16) for doubleheaders.
The non-conference schedule also includes Drexel on March 22 and North Carolina Central on April 13, both at home, as well as at Longwood on April 19. The Spartans will begin conference play at home against Coppin State on March 19 and 20 for a three game series. They will also host Morgan State on April 9-10 and Hampton on April 30-May 1 before the MEAC tournament on May 12-14.
NSU will travel to the other MEAC Northern Division opponents on March 25-26 (Delaware State), April 2-3 (UMES) and April 16-17 (Howard).
