2010 MEAC Championships bracket

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Hampton University softball team earned the No. 4 seed in the Northern Division for the 2010 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Softball Championships, held Thursday through Saturday in Ormond Beach, Fla., as announced by the conference office on Tuesday.

The Lady Pirates (21-36, 9-6 MEAC) will take on Bethune-Cookman, the top seed out of the Southern Division, on Thursday at 10 a.m. The Lady Wildcats come into the tournament having won nine of their last 12 games, including a three-game sweep of North Carolina A&T to clinch the Southern Division regular-season title.

Hampton closed the regular season this past weekend with a 2-1 win over Coppin State. The Lady Pirates are 6-5 this season in neutral-site games. Sophomore Kelsei Saunders (Suffolk, Va.) leads the team with a .351 batting average, 11 home runs and 46 RBI.

Saunders leads the MEAC in home runs and sits second in RBI. She is also fourth in the MEAC in slugging percentage at .629 and tied for sixth, along with freshman Tamara Vickers (Lawndale, Calif.), in hits with 53.

The top four teams in each division qualified for the double-elimination tournament. The winner of the Hampton-Bethune-Cookman game will play in the quarterfinal round on Thursday at 7 p.m. Morgan State, Maryland-Eastern Shore and Norfolk State did not advance.

The championship game will be held on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.

Live stats for Hampton's games will be available through the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com. To learn more about the 2010 MEAC Softball Championships, visit the official MEAC website at www.MEACsports.com.

For more information on Hampton University softball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.