NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team heads into the MEAC Tournament this week riding momentum from its first place Northern Division finish. As the No. 1 seed from the North, the Spartans will take on South No. 4 seed North Carolina A&T to kick things off.
 
The Spartans and Aggies will play at noon on Wednesday in the opening round of the MEAC tournament at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex in Florida. The tournament runs from Wednesday through Saturday.
 
Norfolk State finished the regular season 24-18 overall and 11-4 in the Northern Division, claiming its first ever regular season title since joining the conference prior to the 1998 season. North Carolina A&T ended the year fourth in the Southern Division at 5-10, 8-29 overall.
 
The two teams played earlier this year, a doubleheader sweep for the Spartans at home on March 15. They scored 11 runs in the second inning of game 1, an eventual 15-4 victory. In the second game, NSU had just two hits but got a strong effort from pitcher Skylar Swain in a 1-0 win.
 
The winner between NSU and N.C. A&T will face the winner of South No. 2 Florida A&M (13-2) and North No. 3 Delaware State (7-8) on Thursday at 3 p.m. The losers will play at noon that day in the double-elimination tournament.
 
In the other first round games on Wednesday, South No. 1 Bethune-Cookman (13-2) faces North No. 4 Coppin State (5-10) at noon, and North No. 2 Howard (8-7) takes on South No. 3 North Carolina Central (10-5) at 3 p.m. The winners and losers of those two games then play each other on Thursday.
 
The championship game will take place on Saturday at noon, and it will be broadcast live on FloSoftball. All other games will not be broadcast. Live stats will be available for every game of the tournament, including NSU's first game at NSUSpartans.com/SidearmStats/Softball/. Links for other tournament games, including any involving NSU beginning Thursday, can be found on the championship central page on www.MEACSports.com based on later round matchups.
 
This year will mark the first time the Spartans have advanced to the tournament since 2016. Last year, they finished in a three-way tie for third in the division but lost out on the tiebreakers. Only the top four teams in each division advance to the tournament.
 
The Spartans have never been a No. 1 seed at the MEAC Championship. They were the No. 2 seed from the North in 2013, '15 and '16. They enter this year's tournament as the only team in the league at .500 or above overall. Norfolk State is guaranteed a winning record for the first time since 2013.
 
Tournament History
Since 2004, the Spartans have won more than one game in the tournament just twice. Both times, they advanced to the championship game. NSU finished as the runner up in 2008 and '13. During that 15-year stretch, the program went 0-2 at the tournament five times, 1-2 on four occasions, and missed the tournament entirely in four of those seasons. NSU is aiming for its first ever MEAC championship.
 
Series History
NSU's two wins this year against North Carolina A&T came after the Aggies had won five out of the last six meetings dating back to 2015. The Spartans last swept a doubleheader from A&T in 2013 and now trail in the all-time series, 27-43.
 
Scoping Out the Aggies
North Carolina A&T comes into the tournament riding a 12-game losing streak, with nine of those coming against Southern Division foes. Seven of those 12 losses have been by three runs or less. Their last wins came at the end of March against Savannah State at home.
 
The Aggies hit just .236 as a team, led by Zadaisha Waddell at .348. She leads the team with three home runs and 22 RBI, and she also leads the pitching staff with a 3-8 record and a 3.71 ERA in 96.1 innings of work.
 
Nikki Varela is hitting .295, and Zadia Davis owns a .263 average on the year. Eternal Fuller is tied for the team lead with 13 runs with a .302 average, albeit in a little more than 50 at bats on the season.
 
MEAC Rankings
NSU brings the top pitching staff into the MEAC tournament, as the Spartans sport a 2.71 team ERA. The only other school even below four earned runs per game is Bethune-Cookman at 3.31. Hunter Halford (2.49) and Skylar Swain (2.52) rank first and second, respectively, in the MEAC. Halford is fourth in the league in wins with 13.
 
On the offensive side of the ball, Kylee Lopez and Tuli Iosefa are tied for the league lead in home runs with eight, and Lopez is second in RBI with 36. Shelby DesChamps is first in the MEAC in hits with 56 and second in runs with 39. She is also fifth in stolen bases with 21, while Jazzmaine Hammond is tied for second with 30.
 
National Spots
Hammond is now eighth in the nation in stolen bases per game at 0.75. DesChamps (0.50) is ranked 44^th, as well as 57^th in runs per game (0.93). Shannon Buffington also ranks in the top 50 in the nation in fewest walks per seven innings at 1.34.
 
Thanks to Hammond and DesChamps, the Spartans stand 14^th as a team in stolen bases per game with 2.07. With 30 swipes on the season, Hammond is also one away from tying the school's Division I record of 31 set by Morgan Boyd in 2013.