BALTIMORE- Coppin State senior infielder
Danielle Smith led the Lady Eagles with 5 hits, three RBIs and one run scored in CSU's doubleheader against the University at Albany on Sunday, April 17 at the CSU Softball Complex in Baltimore.
Outfielders
Alanna Williams and
Alisha Esqueda also tallied three hits in two games for Coppin State.
The Great Danes defeated the Lady Eagles 13-7 in game one and 6-1 in the final game.
Megan Narvaez led off the opening inning with a double to center field for the Lady Eagles first hit of the afternoon.
Danielle Smith singled to the shortstop for her first hit of the game to lead off the second inning for CSU.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Lady Eagles scored three runs on three hits.
Narvaez and senior infielder
Kimberlynn Brown were walked consecutively to lead off the inning.
Then senior infielder
Lauren Rogers put a sacrifice bunt into play, advancing both Narvaez and Brown.
Senior outfielder
Alanna Williams followed with an RBI single through the right side, bringing home Narvaez and putting the Lady Eagles in the scoring column first with a 1-0 lead.
Then
Danielle Smith slammed a two run RBI double into center field, scoring Brown and Williams and pushing CSU's lead to 3-0.
Junior infielder
Taylor Haller was walked to begin the bottom of the fourth inning. Brown then delivered a double through the left side, advancing Haller.
Narvaez knocked a sacrifice fly into left field, scoring Haller as the Lady Eagles took a 4-0 lead into the fifth inning.
The Great Danes responded with three runs on two hits in the top of the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning
Danielle Smith singled to the shortstop for her third hit and the Lady Eagles' sixth hit of the game.
The Great Danes exploded for six runs in the top of the sixth inning, taking a 9-4 lead.
Senior catcher
Shelby Mendoza led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a single to left field.
Mendoza then scored on an RBI single to right field by freshman pitcher
Dakota Gartell.
Albany added four runs in the top of the seventh inning giving the Great Danes a 13-5 advantage.
Freshman infielder
Cayla Brown singled to the shortstop to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning.
Danielle Smith racked up her fourth hit of the game with a double to center field, advancing freshman
Hatika James, who subbed in as a pinch runner for Brown.
Alisha Esqueda followed with a two run RBI double to center field, bringing home James and Smith.
The Lady Eagles comeback run would stop there as Albany held on for the 13-7 victory.
Freshman
Megan Narvaez led the Lady Eagles tossing 4.1 innings and only surrendering four hits.
Freshman
Melanie Benge led CSU with two strikeouts in 1.1 innings pitched.
In the final game of the doubleheader, Albany scored two runs on two hits in the opening inning of play.
Alanna Williams singled to center field for the Lady Eagles first hit of the second game.
Hatika James added Coppin's second hit with single through the left side in the bottom of the second inning.
The Great Danes took a 3-0 lead scoring one run in the third inning.
Alisha Esqueda led off the fourth inning with a double through the left side.
Danielle Smith followed with an RBI single through the right side, bringing home Esqueda and putting the Lady Eagles on the scoreboard.
Albany added three more runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Kimberlynn Brown singled up the middle as Coppin's closed the fifth inning down 6-1.
In the bottom of the sixth inning,
Alanna Williams singled through the right side and
Alisha Esqueda followed with a single up the middle for the Lady Eagles last two hits of the game as Albany held on for the 6-1 win.
Melanie Benge went all seven innings for CSU and fanned one batter.
Coppin State will return home to make up its rescheduled hom series against Howard University with a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 20 beginning at 5:00 p.m. The teams will play a single game Thursday, April 21 at 6:00 p.m. All games will be played at the CSU Softball Complex.
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