2016 MEAC Softball Tournament

Thursday	NSU vs. Florida A&M	1:30 p.m.	Ormond Beach Sports Complex
	NSU vs. Savannah State/Morgan State	4:30/7 p.m.	Ormond Beach Sports Complex
* Rest of schedule based on Thursday results

Live Stats | Tournament Bracket

NORFOLK, Va. – The long road of the 2016 season finds the Spartans on a trip to Florida, where the Norfolk State softball team will begin competition in the MEAC Championship on Thursday at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.
 
NSU finished the year with an 11-6 MEAC record, securing second place and the No. 2 seed from the Northern Division. The Spartans will take on South No. 3 seed Florida A&M on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. It will mark the second straight year the two teams met as those respective seeds in the first round.
 
A victory over the Rattlers on Thursday would propel the Spartans to the next round at 7 p.m., while a loss would force them to turn around and play against at 4:30 p.m. Either way, NSU will take on either South No. 1 Savannah State or North No. 4 Morgan State later in the day.
 
Live stats for MEAC tournament games will be available through the conference's website.
 
This year will mark the third straight year NSU will face Florida A&M in the first round. The Rattlers have bitten the Spartans both times, with FAMU winning 6-1 last year and 1-0 in 2014. This will also mark the fifth year in a row NSU and FAMU will have met at some point in the tournament.
 
The Spartans own a 17-23 overall record this year, while the Rattlers have posted a 23-27 overall mark. FAMU went 11-4 in MEAC Southern Division play, tied for second in the division with Bethune-Cookman. Because the Rattlers lost two of three in the regular season against the Wildcats, FAMU lost the tiebreaker and fell to the No. 3 seed.
 
NSU hasn't faced Savannah State since knocking the Tigers out of the tournament in 2013 on the way to the championship game. The Spartans last took on Morgan State in the MEAC tournament in 2011, a 5-3 opening-round victory for NSU.
 
This will mark the ninth straight season the MEAC tournament will be held at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.
 
MEAC Tournament Opening Round
Hampton (11-7), the North No. 3 seed, will face South No. 2 Bethune-Cookman (11-40 in the other 1:30 p.m. opening-round game. The two 10 a.m. contests find South No. 1 Savannah State (12-2) facing North No. 4 Morgan State (8-8), and North No. 1 Delaware State (16-20 taking on South No. 4 North Carolina A&T (6-9).
 
The four losers will play at 4:30 p.m., and the winners compete at 7 p.m. There will be a total of five games on Friday prior to Saturday's championship round.
 
Last year NSU lost to FAMU by a 6-1 score and then to North Carolina A&T by a 4-2 margin to knock the Spartans out of the tournament.
 
Recent History
NSU has either finished second or third in the regular season standings each of its five years in the Northern Division beginning in 2012. This year, the Spartans finished 11-6 for their second straight second-place finish while running their five-year MEAC record to 63-26.
 
The Spartans are trying to overcome a little bit of tournament history, as NSU has won at least two games in the conference tournament just twice in the last 12 years. Both times, they finished as the runner up, the first time in 2008 and then again in '13.
 
Record Chasing
Senior Whitney Williams is currently tied for first with Ursel Bruton and Lekita Wilson in career home runs at NSU with 22. She also ranks fifth in doubles (28) and total bases (267), sixth in hits (171), tied for seventh in at bats (523), 13^th in games started (163) and 15^th in RBI (104).
 
Kayla McNair, meanwhile, ranks second all-time at NSU with 26 hit-by-pitches, just one away from tying the school record held by Rebecca Barnes. Senior Heather Dunning ranks fourth with 176 career hits, 11^th in at bats (506) and 15^th in games started (158).
 
MEAC Rankings
As a team, NSU ranks first in the league in sac flies (11) and fewest walks allowed (97), second in doubles (69) and walks (140), and tied for third in home runs (21).
 
Individually, Kayla McNair ranks first in hit by pitches (14), third in walks (23) and fourth in on-base percentage (.504). Megan Dunning stands tied for first in sac flies (4) and tied for second in doubles (12), while Whitney Williams is tied for fourth in home runs (7). Seana Moriarty sits tied for third in sac bunts (8) and tied for sixth in walks (21).
 
Megan Przeslawski owns a 3.81 ERA for sixth in the league, with Hunter Halford seventh at 3.97. Marissa Marrero enters the tournament tied for eighth in wins with eight.
 
NCAA Rankings
NSU ranks seventh in the nation in doubles per game at 1.73 as well as 76^th in scoring at 5.23 runs. The Spartans also rank No. 108 out of 290 teams in double plays per game (0.33).
 
Individually, Megan Dunning sits 14^th with 0.38 doubles per game, while Kayla McNair stands 17^th with 0.35 hit-by-pitches per game. McNair also sits 59^th with a .504 on-base percentage, and Seana Moriarty is 73^rd with 0.20 sacrifice hits per game.
 
About Florida A&M
The Rattlers have been led this year by MEAC Pitcher of the Year Kenya Pereira, who tallied a 12-14 overall record with a 3.33 ERA. She struck out 117 in 164.0 innings while starting 23 games. Veronica Burse (6-11, 4.67 ERA) started 21 games and pitched 112.1 innings with 68 strikeouts.
 
Five different position players earned All-MEAC honors, including first-team second baseman Jessica Nathan (.361, 35 runs, 21 extra-base hits, 25 RBI, 23 stolen bases) and second-team shortstop Kieifi Myrick (.333, 21 runs, six doubles, five home runs, 24 RBI).
 
Whitney Farris (.380, 32 runs, 14 stolen bases) and Tashayla Irvis (.367, 30 runs, 14 RBI, 19 stolen bases) earned third-team honors in the outfield, and Amber Fullwood did the same at third base after tallying a .299 average with 20 runs, eight doubles, four home runs and 28 RBI.
 
Series History
Florida A&M owns a 47-13 all-time record against NSU, although the teams have not met outside the conference tournament since the Spartans moved to the Northern Division prior to the 2012 season. The Rattlers have won three of the four meetings since '12, defeating the Spartans in the MEAC tournament in '12 and then again in '14 and '15, while NSU sent the Rattlers home in '13 following an 8-7 walk-off win.
 
Norfolk State and Savannah State are tied 4-4 in their all-time series, while NSU has a 29-11 edge against Morgan State after the two teams split a doubleheader earlier this year.