NORFOLK, Va. – The Spartans start off the friendly month of April at home when the Norfolk State softball team hosts Morgan State this weekend for a three-game MEAC series. Due to the threat of rain on Saturday, the start of the series has been moved to Friday.
 
The two teams will now play a doubleheader at 2 p.m. on Friday at the NSU Softball Field. The third game of the series will still take place at noon on Sunday.
 
Both live stats and live video will be available for the three games.
 
The first games of the month of April for NSU will also start the friendly closing stretch of the season. Beginning with Morgan State, the Spartans will play 12 of their last 15 games of the season at home, all in April.
 
This weekend's series is key for NSU, which sits 5-4 in the MEAC. Morgan State is currently tied with Hampton at 4-2, with Delaware State still leading the way in the Northern Division at 7-2. But with Coppin State currently 6-3, the Spartans are sitting in fifth place in the division, and only the top 4 play in the MEAC Tournament next month.
 
Howard (1-5) will play at Coppin State this weekend, while Hampton travels to Delaware State. Maryland Eastern Shore (0-9) will not compete this weekend.
 
NSU comes into the series with MSU carrying a 15-20 overall record, the second-most wins in the league. At 13-13, Morgan State is currently the only team in the MEAC at .500 or better.
 
Ranked in the MEAC
NSU continues to lead the league in doubles (42) and home runs (29). Some of that can be attributed to junior Kylee Lopez, who ranks leads the MEAC in doubles (13) and ranks second in home runs (9) and RBI (31). She is also second in total bases (76), fourth in runs (24), fifth in slugging (.691) and sixth in hits (36). Junior Shelby DesChamps finds herself fifth in stolen bases with 15.
 
Junior Hunter Halford, meanwhile, leads the league in walks with 17. In the circle, she is also fifth in ERA at 3.14, with freshmen Kayla Porter (seventh, 3.28) and Skylar Swain (eighth, 3.50) also in the top 10. Porter also ranks second among eligible pitchers in opponent batting average (.232), while Swain stands fifth in wins with six.
 
Speaking of Home Runs
Norfolk State currently has 29 home runs on the year. The school fastpitch record is 36 set in 2014. In addition, Lopez now has nine home runs this season and needs two more to tie Micki Rodriguez' Division I record of 11 set in 2006. The overall school record is 12 set by Lekita Wilson in 1997.
 
NSU is now up to 56^th in the nation in home runs per game (0.83).
 
Other Stats
The Spartans are also 61^st in the nation in stolen bases (1.37), 86^th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.07) and 98^th in slugging (.420). Lopez currently ranks 13^th in doubles with 13 as well as 48^th in home runs with nine.
 
Halford, meanwhile, ranks 10^th now in walks allowed per seven innings (0.76) and 23^rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.88).
 
DesChamps returned to the lineup last weekend after missing several weeks and promptly hit 6-for-10 with five runs and five stolen bases. Halford is 10-for-19 in her last six games with seven RBI and four home runs.
 
She hit two at Delaware State on March 25, while senior Seana Moriarty belted two home runs in game 1 at Maryland Eastern Shore last Saturday. Lopez also accomplished the feat earlier this year, the first time since 2014 an NSU player hit two home runs in a game.
 
Halford also struck out 12 batters in her start on Saturday against MDES. She tied the school record that had been accomplished six other times before her performance against the Hawks. She joined Jamie Schulle and Rodriguez as the only players in the Division I era to do so. All three had their 12-strikeout games against Maryland Eastern Shore as well.
 
Da Bears
Morgan State swept a three-game series from Howard last weekend after dropping two of three to Hampton in the first conference weekend of the year. Both of those occurred on the road. Thanks to that unbalanced schedule, the Bears will play their last 11 games of the regular season at home, including their last three MEAC series.
 
Pitching has been Morgan State's strong suit. They own a 3.31 team ERA, tops in the league. Amy Begg carries an 8-6 record with a 2.58 ERA, striking out 69 in 89.2 innings of work. Stephanie Rundlett is the team's second starter, and she has a 5-6 record with a 3.63 ERA in 73.1 innings of work.
 
Damali Young leads the way on offense with a .418 batting average and 27 runs scored. She and Giselle Alvarez have each driven in 11 runs, with Alvarez hitting .351 with 24 runs scored. Gabriella Gorosave has a team-high 23 RBI with a .337 average as well. Jalian Young (14 runs scored) and Evvie Buehlman (11 RBI) also do work on offense.
 
Series Update
Morgan State swept NSU last year in the three game series, shutting out the Spartans in all three games as well. Still, Norfolk State owns a 29-14 edge in the all-time series. Prior to last year, NSU had won 14 of the previous 15 meetings dating back to its switch to the Northern Division in 2012.
 
Up Next
NSU will play its last road games of the season on April 14-15 during a three-game series at Howard next weekend.