NORFOLK, Va. – For the second week in a row, a pair of Spartans takes home the weekly MEAC softball honors. This time it was freshman Kenna Higa and junior Alexis Robinson who were named the MEAC Player of the Week and MEAC Pitcher of the Week, respectively. Last week junior Imani Moore and redshirt senior Joana Vallejo won the honors.
For the weekend, the Spartans went 2-2 at the Battle at the Bay with wins over Wagner and Penn. Against the Seahawks on Friday, the Spartans picked up their first no-hitter since April 9, 2006, in a 1-0 win over Howard before closing the weekend with a 6-5 win over Penn.
This is the second time this season Robinson has been named the MEAC Pitcher of the Week. She was named after going 2-0 week one at the NSU-Hampton Classic. She picked up both wins for the Spartans this weekend with a 2-0 win over Wagner and 6-5 win over Penn at the Battle at the Bay. Against the Seahawks, she pitched 5.1 innings of the first no-hitter for NSU since April 9, 2006, against Howard. She struck out three in the win. Against Penn in the weekend finale, she pitched the final 1.2 innings with two strikeouts, the final two outs of the game, to get the win over the Ivy League opponent. She now had a .75 ERA giving up only three earned runs in 28 innings pitched to go along with 21 strikeouts. She is only one win shy of her win total from 2021.
Higa was chosen after playing in all four games over the weekend and where she collected four hits with two doubles and a home run along with three RBI and one stolen base. In the first game of the weekend, she hit the game-winning walk off two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh on the first pitch of the at bat to help the Spartans get their first no-hitter since a 1-0 win over Howard on April 9, 2006. She followed up with a double against Youngstown State and then another double against Penn in the finale. Against the Quakers she hit a hard-hit ball to deep center field that scored a run from first that put NSU up 5-4. She then scored the winning run from second on an error by the shortstop that she slide and dived around the catcher to touch the plate and give the Spartans their sixth run. For the weekend she had a .444 BA with a 1.000% slugging percentage. This is Higa's first career weekly MEAC award.
A Spartan has been picked MEAC Pitcher of the Week each of the first three weeks this season and has won the MEAC Player of the Week two of the first three.
The Spartans (8-5) host their final early season tournament at the Spartan-Pirate Clash this coming weekend. The Spartans will play a pair of games each day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, along with neutral site game on Saturday.
