NORFOLK, Va. – After starting the season strong last weekend, the Norfolk State softball team will look to keep it going when the Spartans host South Carolina State and Davis & Elkins this weekend for the Spartan Classic at the NSU Softball Field.
 
NSU will host S.C. State for a single game on Friday at 4 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon. Then on Sunday, Davis & Elkins will come to campus to play a pair of games starting at 10 a.m.
 
Live stats and live video will be available for all five games.
 
The Spartans carry a 4-2 record after defeating S.C. State three times last weekend at the Tiger Classic hosted by Savannah State. NSU also defeated the host Tigers once, scoring 10 runs in each of its last three games down in the Peach State.
 
South Carolina State dropped to 0-5 on the year following last weekend's play. Davis & Elkins opens its season on Saturday at Christopher Newport before making the short trek to NSU on Sunday.
 
Offensive Firepower
NSU hit .319 during the opening weekend of the 2018 season. Junior Shelby DesChamps had 10 hits in 18 at bats (.556) and sophomore Meaghan Barfield batted .474 (9-for-19). Barfield also had three home runs and 10 RBI on opening weekend. She had four homers and 17 RBI all of last season.
 
The Spartans also went 16-of-19 in stolen bases. They now have more successful steals (16) this year than they had even attempts all of last season (14). DesChamps had seven of those swipes last weekend. She also scored nine runs in the six games. Last year's team leader, Kylee Lopez, had 17 runs scored.
 
Its last three victories included 10-1 and 10-2 over South Carolina State, as well as 10-9 against Savannah State. Norfolk State scored 41 altogether, more than a third of its total production from a season ago.
 
Newcomer Presence
The biggest impact among newcomers came in the circle. Freshman Kayla Porter allowed two unearned runs in six innings of work in a complete game win against South Carolina State. Freshman Skylar Swain started twice and struck out 12 in 11.2 innings while allowing four earned runs.
 
Fellow freshmen Tuli Iosefa and Jazzmaine Hammond each hit their first collegiate home run last weekend as well.
 
Series History
NSU owns a 33-26 lead in the all-time series with South Carolina State, although the two programs had not played in six years prior to last weekend. The Spartans have won five in a row and eight of the last nine.
 
Norfolk State and Davis & Elkins have never played each other.
 
Who are You?
South Carolina State has hit just .189 to start the season, scoring exactly five runs in five games. Jada Richardson is hitting 8-for-14, while no other player is above .270. Aside from the three games against NSU, the Bulldogs were shut out by North Dakota (9-0) and Savannah State (12-0) this year.
 
They have also given up 47 runs, 39 earned, in 27.1 innings so far this year. The Bulldogs finished just 2-39 last year, with both wins coming against North Carolina A&T in MEAC Southern Division play.
 
Davis & Elkins, a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and an NCAA Division II member, is coming off a season in which it finished 24-21 overall and 12-13 in its conference. Alyssa Cairns was the team's leading hitter last year at .387. Including her, six of the team's top seven hitters from a season ago are back.
 
The team finished with a 3.07 ERA, and each of its three main pitchers are back as well: Sara Tobin (2.43 ERA in 49.0 innings), Victoria Krystynak (8-5, 3.14 ERA in 100.1 innings) and Allie Lapallo (15-14, 3.15 ERA in 158.0 innings).
 
Up Next
NSU will play on March 2-3 at the Winthrop Invitational for a total of four games.