Spartan Softball @ the NSU Softball Field
NORFOLK, Va. – Itching to get back onto the field, the Norfolk State softball team rolls into MEAC play this weekend when the Spartans host Delaware State for a three-game series at the NSU Softball Field. After their conference season was delayed by weather last weekend, the Spartans will instead play their first games of any kind this weekend after a two-week layoff.
Two of the top teams in the MEAC North the last several years, NSU and DSU will play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Saturday, followed by a single game at noon on Sunday. It will mark the start of a stretch in which the Spartans play three of four weekends at home.
NSU owns a 7-7 overall record following its last competition, the Elon Phoenix Tournament on March 10-11. The Spartans are the only team in the league to sit at .500 or better overall. They are also looking to break a streak in which they have won once and lost once on each of the seven dates they have played this year.
Delaware State enters the weekend holding a 3-15 overall record, including a 2-0 mark in the league after taking two games from Maryland Eastern Shore by identical 3-2 scores on Sunday at home. Those stand as the only league games of the season so far for any MEAC team.
Live stats and
live video will be available for all three games between NSU and DSU.
Normally a strong hitting team, Delaware State has struggled this year, albeit in part due to a demanding early season schedule. Only one player is hitting above .250, that being Mika Lumsden at .304. As a team, DSU is batting just .219. Desiree Moreno leads the Hornets with four doubles and eight RBI.
Jessica Shalongo and Hannah Shields each got a win in the circle over Maryland Eastern Shore last weekend. Shalongo owns a team-best 4.61 ERA in 27.1 innings, while Shields has pitched 40.1 innings in 14 appearances, including seven starts, with a 5.73 ERA. Altogether, the Hornets have been outscored 123-38 this season.
What about NSU?
The Spartans, meanwhile, are hitting .262 as a team and have posted a 2.95 ERA from its starting two of sophomore
Hunter Halford and junior
Megan Przeslawski. Halford also has a .318 average with two home runs and nine RBI. She ranks second on the team to sophomore
Kylee Lopez, who has tallied nine runs, three homers, 12 RBI and 11 walks with a .316 average.
Senior
Devon Bitler, meanwhile, leads all players with a .372 average. The Spartans have also gotten production out of junior
Jaylene Pryor (.289, four doubles), freshman
Meaghan Barfield (.286, eight runs, three doubles, seven RBI) and junior
Seana Moriarty (.273, eight runs).
Halford carries a 5-3 record with a 2.05 ERA into the first MEAC weekend for NSU. She has pitched 54.2 innings, starting eight times with two shutouts. Przeslawski carries a 4.17 ERA in 40.1 innings, giving up just 45 hits but also allowing 23 walks.
MEAC Rankings
Among qualifying players, Bitler ranks fourth in the MEAC with a .372 average. Not to be outdone, Halford leads all players with a 2.05 ERA, just ahead of Amy Begg of Morgan State (2.06). Przeslawski stands sixth at 4.17. Halford is also second in wins with five.
Lopez ranks second in home runs (3) and on-base percentage (.469), third in RBI (12), fourth in walks (11) and fifth in slugging percentage (.579). In addition, sophomore
Shelby DesChamps sits sixth in walks (9) and Bitler finds herself ninth in on-base percentage (.426).
NSU ranks first in the league in fielding percentage at .965 and first in ERA at 2.95. In fact, the Spartans average more than a run better than the next best team, currently Morgan State with a 4.07 ERA. The Spartans also rank second in batting average at .261.
Ouch
Kayla McNair has been hit by a pitch three times this season, which now gives her 29 for her career and the most ever by an NSU player. She surpassed Rebecca Barnes' previous school best of 27. McNair also ranks 13
th at NSU with 55 walks in her Spartan career.
Rescheduled
Norfolk State will ultimately go two weeks in between games after five contests were washed out last week. NSU's doubleheader at North Carolina Central on March 14 was postponed due to weather and will be made up on April 5 at Thomas Brooks Park in Cary, N.C.
In addition, the Spartans were set to open MEAC play at Coppin State last weekend. Instead, those three games will be made up on April 25-26 in Baltimore in a rare mid-week MEAC series.
All Time Series
Delaware State has pulled ahead of Norfolk State in the history of the two programs, with DSU now leading the Spartans in the all-time series, 25-23. The Hornets have won eight of the last 10 meetings to surge ahead, including two of three in last year's regular season series. DSU also knocked the Spartans out of the MEAC tournament last year.
Up Next
The Spartans play their second straight weekend home series when they host Maryland Eastern Shore on April 1-2.
