NORFOLK, Va. (May 11, 2022) – Defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion and regular-season champion Morgan State began the 2022 MEAC Softball Championship by posting a 28-0 win over No. 5 North Carolina Central (NCCU) on Wednesday afternoon in at the NSU Softball Field on the Norfolk State campus.
Morgan State (30-13) advances to play No. 2 Howard on Thursday, May 12 at 3 p.m., while North Carolina Central (12-35) falls into the loser's bracket and will play No. 6 Coppin State at 9 a.m.
The top-seeded Lady Bears, who prior to today hadn't played in 10 days since completing a three-game series sweep over NCCU (5/1) in the regular season finale, extended their season-long winning streak to 15 consecutive games. It's the second longest active winning streak in Division I behind Texas State, which has won 16 straight.
Morgan State dominated all aspects of the game, recording 19 hits, 24 RBIs, six home runs and four doubles. MEAC Pitcher of the Year
Anaya Hunte improved to 15-3 on the season after pitching three innings. She struck out six batters while only allowing one hit.
Melissa Paz, who ranks fourth in the Nation in ERA at 0.53, tossed two innings in relief, giving up just one hit and striking out one batter.
Eight different Lady Bears totaled multiple RBIs and five players recorded multiple hits.
Victoria Fletcher led Morgan, going 4-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs and four runs scored.
Madison Nunez and
Aliya Ewell each went 3-for-5 with three runs scored. Nunez had five RBIs and
Aliya Ewell had three RBIs.
Mia Ewell finished the day 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs and
Asia Thomas recorded a hit, two RBIs and scored a game-high five runs.
Diamond Porter and Hailey Bailey had one hit each for NCCU. Ashanti Eubanks suffered the loss after giving up eight runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning. Taylor Hilliard, Anisa Raynolds and Jaden Davis all saw time in the pitching circle for the Eagles.
Morgan State will now face a Howard squad which advanced to Thursday's contest after Alyssa Vasquez hit a three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Bison an 11-8 win over No. 3 Norfolk State on Wednesday night.
The Bison (28-21) won the season series over Beltway rival Morgan State, claiming two of the three contests in Baltimore. The series loss ended the Lady Bears' streak of 10 consecutive MEAC series without losing a series dating back to the 2019 season.
For more information on the 2022 MEAC Softball Championships, please visit the
Championship Central page.
The MEAC Strategic Communications Office contributed to this release.
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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified
high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's
Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus
designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit
www.morgan.edu.
About the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is in its 51
st year of intercollegiate competition with the 2021-22 academic school year. Located in Norfolk, Va., the MEAC is made up of eight outstanding historically Black institutions across the Atlantic coastline: Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University and South Carolina State University.