NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team will kick off its upcoming campaign in mid-February and will play a total of 21 games at home as the program released its 2021 schedule on Wednesday.
 
In total, the Spartans will play 45 games this year, including 20 in MEAC play. Their 21 home games will be spread out over five weekends from February through early April. In addition, Norfolk State will host this year's MEAC Tournament in May at the NSU Softball Field.
 
"We've put together another challenging schedule, one that will test us in and out of conference," said NSU head coach James Inzana. "Playing the same competition multiple times will really be a good test of where our team is. It will also give all of our players a lot of opportunity to get onto the field."
 
The season kicks off on Feb. 13 and 14 at George Mason. NSU will play a pair of doubleheaders against the Patriots during the opening weekend of the season. From there, the Spartans will play 13 straight games at home over the next three weekends.
 
They will host Morehead State for twinbills on Feb. 20 and 21, and Youngstown State and Wagner will come to town the following week. NSU will play two games against YSU on Feb. 26 and two games versus Wagner on Feb. 28. The Spartans will play each team once on Feb. 27.
 
Then on March 6, NSU closes out the home stretch by hosting Drexel for a tripleheader. It will mark the first time since 1995 the Spartans will play the same team three times in one day and the first time ever in their Division I era.
 
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, attendance at any home game is limited to family and guests of the participating team members, supplied in advance through a pass list. The events are not open to the public.
 
A non-conference trip awaits on March 10 and 11 when NSU heads to Radford for a pair of doubleheaders. The Spartans will be on the road again on March 13 and 14 to start MEAC play. They will play two more doubleheaders at Morgan State. For this season, all conference series with the other Northern Division teams will consist of four games.
 
NSU will host two Northern Division teams in Howard on March 20-21 and Coppin State on April 2-3, the latter series serving as the last home games of the regular season for the Spartans. In between, they will head to North Carolina A&T on March 27-28 for four non-conference games.
 
Later in the month of April, the Spartans will take on A&T again, and this time it will count toward conference play. NSU will head down to Orangeburg, South Carolina for the MEAC Round-Up, where Northern and Southern Division teams will compete against each other. NSU takes on South Carolina State on April 16, A&T on April 17, and North Carolina Central and Florida A&M on April 18.
 
The regular season comes to a close on April 24-25 with four games at Delaware State. NSU will host the MEAC Championship from May 13-15 at the NSU Softball Field. The top two teams from each division will advance to the double-elimination tournament.
 
All dates and times are subject to change.