2019 Softball Championship Bracket
NORFOLK, Va. – The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Bethune-Cookman will host the 2019 Softball Championship on Wednesday, May 8 through Saturday, May 11 at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex in Ormond Beach, Fla. The Norfolk State Spartans and the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats will enter tournament play as the No. 1 seeds.
Only the top four teams from each division will compete in the double-elimination tournament, which features a chance to earn the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Softball Championship.
Bethune-Cookman (13-2 MEAC) has won back-to-back MEAC Southern Division titles after going 13-2 in league play this season under head coach Laura Watten. The Wildcats finished the regular-season tied with the Florida A&M Rattlers atop the standings, but the B-CU Wildcats wrestled away the title from its rival by winning two of the three games between the two the final weekend of the regular- season.
Thirteen-time champion Florida A&M (13-2 MEAC) is the No. 2 seed from the South while North Carolina Central (10-5) clinched its second consecutive MEAC softball postseason berth since rejoining the league as the No. 3 seed.
North Carolina A&T State (5-10 MEAC) enters as the South’s No. 4 seed, as the Lady Aggies make a return to postseason play.
Norfolk State (11-4 MEAC) made history during the regular-season, as the Spartans won their first Northern Division title in school history. Led by head coach James Inzana, the Spartans led the MEAC with the most regular-season wins (24) and guaranteed themselves a winning season for the first time in six years – and the fourth time overall in Division I.
Howard (8-7 MEAC) earned its way to the No. 2 seed in the North by virtue of Morgan State being ineligible for postseason play and taking two of three over Norfolk State last weekend, while Delaware State (7-8 MEAC) emerged as the No. 3 seed after sweeping Maryland Eastern Shore during the final weekend of conference play.
Coppin State (5-10) claimed the No. 4 seed in large part due to Delaware State sweeping the series against Maryland Eastern Shore.
The 2019 MEAC Softball Championship begins Wednesday, May 8 at 12 p.m.
Bethune-Cookman will battle Coppin State while Norfolk State and North Carolina A&T State face each other on the opposite field. Florida A&M/Delaware State and Howard/North Carolina Central round out the first day of action, with both games slated to start at 3 p.m.
The elimination round begins Thursday at 12 p.m. with a pair of games, followed by the winners’ bracket games at 3 p.m. The winners of the 12 p.m. contests will square off against the losers of the 3 p.m. games Thursday evening at 5 p.m.
On Friday, the first championship game participant will be determined following the 12 p.m. contest, while the final participant won't be known until a pair of elimination games at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
The championship round is set for Saturday, May 11, beginning at 12 p.m., and will be broadcast live on FloSoftball with the team from the winners’ bracket needing only one win to claim the championship trophy. If the team that comes out of the losers’ bracket wins the first game on Saturday, a second game will be played 30 minutes after.
A complete schedule of events and a credential application for media interested in covering the tournament can be found on MEACsports.com under the Championships tab.