Spartan Softball @ the NSU Softball Field
NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team will open up the month of April with its second straight home weekend. This time around, NSU hosts Maryland Eastern Shore for a three-game MEAC series on Sunday and Monday.
The Spartans are in the midst of a four-week stretch in which they stay in town for all three of this season's home conference weekends. It began last week when NSU welcomed Delaware State to the NSU Softball Field. The Spartans will be on the road next weekend before returning to host Howard.
Until then, Norfolk State will play two games this Sunday against MDES beginning at 1 p.m., followed by a single game at noon on Monday, tentatively.
All three games this weekend will be
streamed live. In addition,
live stats will be available for those games as well.
Norfolk State fell twice on Wednesday in a non-conference doubleheader at Radford, 10-2 and 8-0. That dropped NSU's record to 8-11 overall. The Spartans also stand 1-2 in conference play after Delaware State won two of three last week in Norfolk.
The Hawks took two of three from Coppin State last week at home to improve their MEAC record to 2-3. Maryland Eastern Shore stands 8-13 overall, having also swept doubleheaders at Savannah State and South Carolina State in the middle of last week.
MEAC Rankings
NSU still owns the best ERA in the league at 3.90, with Maryland Eastern Shore second at 3.95. The Spartans are also tops with a .966 fielding percentage while ranking fourth with a .253 team batting average.
Kylee Lopez is tied for second in the league with four home runs, while
Devon Bitler stands fifth in the league in on-base percentage (.419) and sixth in hitting (.368). Also sixth in the MEAC are Lopez and
Shelby DesChamps, who each have 11 walks. Lopez finds herself seventh in slugging percentage (.519).
Hunter Halford stands fourth in the MEAC in ERA at 3.13. She also ranks third with five wins and eighth among all hitters with 14 RBI.
National Rankings
Prior to Wednesday's games,
Seana Moriarty ranked third in the nation in sacrifice hits per game at 0.41. Halford sat 22
nd in fewest walks allowed per seven innings (0.95) and 61
st in RBI per game (1.00). On the reverse side, DesChamps (0.67) and Lopez (0.65) were in the top 75 in walks per game.
As a team, the Spartans ranked 12
th in fewest hit batters (7) by the pitching staff and 63
rd in fielding percentage (.967).
Kayla McNair ranks 41
st in the nation in career hit by pitches (29).
About MDES
The Hawks are a much-improved team this starting, starting in the circle. Adrienne Guerra carries a 2.09 ERA and a 5-6 record into the weekend. She has pitched 70.1 innings and struck out 80, owning three shutouts on the season. Erin Hallman has pitched the second-most innings with 36.0, tallying a 1-5 record with a 6.03 ERA.
On offense, Guerra is hitting .321 with 10 RBI, second on the team in both categories to Samantha Casarez. She owns a .400 average with 12 runs, two homers and 13 RBI. Allison Anderson has scored a team-high 16 runs with a .317 average and five doubles, while Kiana Peterson is also hitting .317 with two homers and eight RBI.
Despite a 3.95 team ERA, the Hawks are allowing teams to hit .320 against them this season.
Busy Stretch
After going two weeks in between games due to postponements, NSU is now in the midst of a stretch in which it plays four straight weekends, with non-conference doubleheaders on the road in between. It started this week at Radford and continues at North Carolina Central next week and at Towson the following week. In the end, NSU will play 18 games in 22 days.
Series History
The Spartans own a 60-9 all-time record against Maryland Eastern Shore, its best mark against any MEAC team. NSU has taken two of three from the Hawks each of the last four years in their regular season series. Prior to that, the Spartans had won 13 in a row.
Up Next
NSU will travel to North Carolina Central next Wednesday to play a makeup doubleheader that was postponed from mid-March. The Spartans will then resume official MEAC play next weekend at Morgan State.
