DURHAM, N.C. — The North Carolina Central University softball team holds a half-game lead over Howard University in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference standings entering a key three-game series at Thomas Brooks Park on Saturday-Sunday, April 9-10, in which the winner will hold a position in the upper half of the league standings through the midway point of conference play.
Fans are encouraged to check
NCCUEaglePride.com or the NCCU Eagles Athletics app for updates as the schedule is subject to change.
GAME INFO:
vs. Howard
DATE: Saturday, April 9 at 1 p.m. (DH)
DATE: Sunday, April 10 at 12 p.m.
LOCATION: Thomas Brooks Park, Cary, N.C.
WATCH/LISTEN:
NCCU Sports Network (No Audio on Saturday)
FOLLOW:
LIVE STATS;
@NCCUAthletics
NC CENTRAL DUGOUT:
The Eagles are coming off a 13-8 home loss to East Carolina University on Tuesday, but are riding a three-game win streak in league play. NCCU (9-20 Overall, 6-3 MEAC) is in three-way tie for second place in the conference standings after sweeping Delaware State University last weekend.
NCCU has two players batting over .300 on the season. Freshman
Jaden Davis tops the team with a .333 batting average and sophomore
Jaylah Barr is sporting a .309 batting average. Davis tops the maroon and gray with 19 runs scored and eight stolen bases while Barr leads the MEAC with six home runs and paces the Eagles with 21 RBI.
NCCU has two other players flirting with a .300 batting average. Fershman
Jaidyn Hamby has a .294 batting average, but has not played since March 20. Senior
Madison Mifsud (.292) is second on the team with 21 RBI.
Mifsud is riding an eight-game hit streak while Davis has hit safely in her last seven contests. Barr has multiple hits in each of NCCU's last three games.
Other key contributors in NCCU's lineup have been junior
Diamond Porter (.243, 14 R, 6 SB), junior
Maegan Garrison (.242, 11 R, 11 RBI, 4 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR), freshman
Ashanti Eubanks (.238, 6 RBI and 1 HR in 21 AB) and sophomore
Hailey Batista (.218, 19 R, 15 RBI, 4 HR, 3 SB).
Eubanks (6-7, 6.59 ERA, 52 SO, 74.1 IP) has been NCCU deciding pitcher in each of the last five games (3-2) and is 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA in eight league appearances with 26 strikeouts in 30.1 innings pitched against MEAC opposition.
NC Central and Howard last played in the MEAC Round-Up last season in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and the Bison edged the Eagles by a narrow 2-1 score. NCCU is 3-9 against Howard since transitioning to the DI ranks in 2007-18.
HOWARD DUGOUT:
The Bison last won two of three MEAC games in a weekend series at Morgan State University last weekend to say just one half game behind NCCU, MSU and Norfolk State University in sole possession of fifth place in the league standings. Howard (14-19 Overall, 5-3 MEAC) has a winning record at home (11-9), but is just 3-5 in true road games.
Senior Camille Navarro is the MEAC Preseason MEAC Player of the Year and she is batting .350 with a league-leading 31 runs scored. She is also produced 12 extra-base hits (7 2B, 4 3B, 1 HR), six stolen bases and 12 RBI so far this season.
A pair of freshmen in Victoria Brown (.373) and Alyssa Vasquez (.354) lead the Bison in batting average. Brown also has six stolen bases, 19 RBI and three triples while Vasquez has tallied a team-best 23 RBI and four home runs to go with 17 runs and 11 doubles.
Howard has a total of seven players in its regular lineup batting over .300.
Senior pitcher Analise De La Roca, a transfer from New Mexico State University, has accounted for nine of Howard's wins this season in the circle. De La Roca is 9-5 with a 3.47 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 76.2 innings pitched. The Bison have used four other pitchers this season to support De La Roca.
