NORFOLK, Va. — A quartet of North Carolina Central University softball players were named to the 2022 Preseason All-MEAC Second Team as announced by the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference on Friday.
Senior catcher
Madison Mifsud (Jacksonville, Fla.), junior third baseman
Maegan Garrison (Harrisburg, N.C.), sophomore first baseman
Hailey Batista (Mebane, N.C.) and sophomore middle infielder/pitcher Jayla Barr (Batesburg-Leesville, S.C.) were the four Eagles that were selected to the Second Team as voted upon by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
In conjunction with the preseason teams, the MEAC Softball Predicted Order of Finish poll was released and NCCU has been designated in the upper half of the league after making a run to the MEAC Softball Championship title game last season. The Eagles received one first-place vote and settled for fourth position out of eight teams.
Mifsud will once again setup behind the plate for the maroon and gray and is NCCU's most veteran player having already played in 89 games for the Eagles over her first three seasons. Mifsud hit a career-high .311 last season before missing the final 15 games due to injury, which is the top batting average returning to NCCU's lineup.
In league play, Mifsud had a .417 batting average in the four games before injury.
Garrison has been a staple in NCCU's lineup, started in 54 of the 55 games she has played over her first two seasons with the Eagles. Garrison increased her batting average and slugging percentage last season compared to her rookie year and batted .200 in league play last season.
After seeing most of her action at shortstop the past two years, Garrison is expected to patrol the hot corner more in 2022.
Batista is NCCU's top returning power bat. She batted .256 for the season with 23 RBI and 21 runs on the way to earning team MVP honors. Batista totaled 15 extra-base hits, including nine doubles, three triples and three home runs.
To cap her rookie season, Batista supplied five RBI in four tourney games to earn MEAC All-Tournament Team honors. She also earned MEAC Rookie of the Week honors late in the regular season.
Barr played in 27 games as a rookie, including 23 starts and finished with a .236 batting average. Barr, who also pitches for the Eagles, will be seeing most of her time at shortstop and second base. Barr increased her batting average to .294 in 11 league tilts and shined most late in the year with all five of her extra-base hits (three doubles, one triple and one home run) all coming in her final eight games in the month of May.
In the pitcher's circle, Barr saw action in 12 games, including 10 starts and had 23 strikeouts in 39.2 innings of work.
