BALTIMORE, Md. (Feb. 10, 2023)--The 2023 softball season is finally here. Morgan State, the two-time reigning Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular season champions and 2021 MEAC Champions, begin the season this weekend at the Elon Softball Classic in Elon, N.C. (Feb. 10-12).
 
Morgan State will open up the season playing three games, all on Saturday now, with the University of Southern Indiana withdrawing from the tournament with travel concerns due to weather conditions.
 
"Playing three games tomorrow, I feel like not only for myself, but my teammates takes us back to our travel ball days when we'd play three, four, five games in a day," said Morgan State senior pitcher and MEAC Preseason Second Team selection Melissa Paz. "Only difference now is they aren't 1:30 drop dead games, but a full seven innings."
 
"(It's) very exciting not only for tomorrow itself, but to start up the season once again and getting the opportunity to be on the field with all these incredible ladies that are apart of this year's squad."
 
The Lady Bears will first take the field against Winthrop on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 9:30 a.m. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since April 2, 2004 – a 5-2 victory by Winthrop – in the Aggie Tournament, hosted by North Carolina A&T.
 
Morgan State will follow with a matchup against host Elon at 12 p.m. The Lady Bears and Phoenix played in last season's Elon Tournament, which Elon won 2-0.
 
The Lady Bears will close out the day and the tournament against a familiar foe and former MEAC rival in North Carolina A&T, who replaces the University of Southern Indiana in the tournament.
 
Morgan State and A&T last met on April 16, 2021 in the MEAC Round-Up in Orangeburg, S.C. The Aggies would win the MEAC's mid-season event, 7-4, in a contest which featured the league's division leaders. A month later the Lady Bears would go on to capture the program's first MEAC softball title and advanced to the NCAA Regional.   
 
"Facing N.C. A&T is going to be an exciting game. What I remember from facing them back in the 2021 season was that they played a lot of small ball and were very up the entire game," said Paz. "Not once did that team ever even take a second to quite down and I think that's the type of energy we need to face to get us all prepared for what's to come when going to conference play."
 
Added Paz, "(I'm) very excited to face them once again and carry the knowledge we all receive after playing this weekend and taking it with us throughout the remainder of this long and exciting season to come."
 
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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.