NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team has just three weekends of MEAC play left. Two of those are at home, including this weekend when the first-place Spartans host Coppin State for a three-game Northern Division series.
 
The first two games will be played on Friday beginning at 3 p.m. at the NSU Softball Field. Game 3 is set for Saturday at 1 p.m., weather permitting. The NSU athletics website will have live video and live stats available for all three games.
 
NSU will look to maintain its standing in the division, where the Spartans carry a 5-1 record into the weekend. They sit 18-15 overall after splitting a doubleheader at Hampton on Wednesday. They are a game ahead of Morgan State (4-2) so far, with Howard (3-2) and Coppin State (3-3) not far behind. Delaware State (3-6) and Maryland Eastern Shore (2-6) have catching up to do.
 
The Eagles own a 5-19 overall record this year heading into their doubleheader on Thursday afternoon at George Mason. Norfolk State, meanwhile, remains the only team in the league above .500 overall. The next closest team, Florida A&M, is seven games below the .500 mark at 15-22.
 
In the South, FAMU and Bethune-Cookman own 6-0 records. North Carolina A&T (5-1) and North Carolina Central (3-3) each have a leg up to finish in the top 4 and advance to the MEAC tournament. NSU is looking to qualify for the first time since 2016.
 
Who is Coppin State
The Eagles took two of three from Maryland Eastern Shore last weekend, adding to wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, South Carolina State and Delaware State earlier this year. CSU is a team that hits just .231, and the only player above .300 is Nicole Ullman at .308, albeit in just 26 at bats.
 
Among regular players, Megan Narvaez is hitting .283, and Cayla Brown bats .264. Patricia Soria leads the team in runs with 11 and doubles with five, and Brown and Soraya Valdez-Frick each have seven RBI to lead the way.
 
The pitching staff owns a 7.66 ERA. Madison Didion has four of the team's wins with a 5.68 ERA in 65.1 innings, and Brissa Alvarado has pitched 43.2 innings with a 6.25 ERA. The duo has started 20 of the 24 games so far. Brown, Didion, Ullman, Narvaez and Nia Bowe were all picked preseason All-MEAC this year.
 
NSU's MEAC Rankings
NSU leads the league in home runs (18) and stolen bases (72) while ranking second in team batting average at .274. The Spartans do pace all MEAC teams in ERA at 3.00.
 
Senior Hunter Halford leads the league in ERA at 2.60, and sophomore Skylar Swain is third at 3.02. Halford is third in both wins (9) and strikeouts (70).
 
On the offensive side of the ball, junior Shelby DesChamps is fifth in average (.404) but first in hits (46) and second in runs (32) and total bases (60). Senior Kylee Lopez ranks second in RBI (27), and sophomore Jazzmaine Hammond is also second in the league in stolen bases (22). Lopez is also hitting 14-for-33 (.424) in her last 11 games.
 
Sophomore Tuli Iosefa also stands first in the MEAC in home runs with seven as well as fourth in total bases with 57.
 
NSU Record Book
With one more home run, Iosefa would become the sixth player in NSU's D-I history to hit at least eight in a season. DesChamps is also trying to become just the second player in the program's D-I history to hit .400 in a season twice.
 
Halford's ERA of 2.60 currently ranks her fifth in D-I season annals as well. At the career level, she sits eighth all-time in strikeouts (217). She is also seventh in starts (63) and eighth in innings pitched (385.2). Lopez, meanwhile, is sixth in total bases (228) and eighth in career doubles (26).
 
Series History
Coppin State had taken two of three from NSU each of the last two years after the Spartans swept the Eagles the previous four years. NSU had won 14 in a row until the Eagles started their run in 2017.
 
The Spartans lead the all-time series still, 49-14. Among teams they still play as a member of Division I, Maryland Eastern Shore (67) and Hampton (53) are the only schools NSU has collected more wins against over the course of its history.
 
What's Left
Following this weekend, NSU plays at Delaware State on April 19 and 20 for a three-game series, followed by the close of the regular season on April 27-28 at home against Howard.