BALTIMORE – Coppin State softball split a pair of games against rival Morgan State on Saturday, April 30
th. Pitcher Dakota Gartrell led the Lady Eagles to an 8-4 win in game two after tossing a complete game striking out one batter.
The Lady Eagles led 1-0 after the first with two hits. Freshman pitcher
Megan Narvaez doubled to left field leading the inning off and freshman infielder
Cayla Brown hit an RBI single to left field scoring her. The next Coppin State run came in the fourth inning on a freshman outfielder
Melanie Benge single to right field sending freshman
Hatika James home on a fielding error.
Morgan State tied the game at 1-1 after the third inning and then once again in the fourth inning with one run scored (2-2).
Senior infielder
Danielle Smith broke the tie smacking her fourth home run of the season during the fifth inning. Smith's home run to left field scored
Megan Narvaez after she led the inning off singling to center field. CSU had four total hits that inning with Alisha Eaqueada doubling to center field and
Cayla Brown singling. Esqueda eventually scored on a fielding error by MSU for the third run of the inning (5-2).
The Lady Bears kept on trimming the lead down with single runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings. Coppin State had a 5-4 advantage heading into the ninth inning but two runs scored turned into a heartbreaking Lady Eagles loss to Morgan State 6-5 in game one of a double header.
Pitcher
Megan Narvaez struck out three batters, walked three in 6.1 innings tossed. She also led the Lady Eagles at the plate with two hits. Both
Cayla Brown and
Melanie Benge also had two hits each while
Danielle Smith finished with two RBIs.
In game two, Coppin State rebounded with an 8-4 win over rival Morgan State. The Lady Eagles hammered out 13 hits paced by a 3-for-4 effort at the plate by Smith. Smith finished with three hits, three runs scored, and a stolen base. Benge added on a pair of hits along with freshman pitcher Dakota Gartrell. Gartrell picked up her third win of the season from the mound going a complete seven innings.
Coppin took a 1-0 lead after the first inning behind an RBI single by Benge sending Smith home. Morgan State came back with three hits leading to two runs in the bottom of the first taking a 2-1 lead. Back and forth the teams battled early on with Coppin tacking on four runs in the second inning on four hits.
CSU's
Hatika James doubled to center field to lead the second inning off. Narzaez also hit a double but to left field scoring James. Next, Esqueada kept the momentum going with an RBI single up the middle sending Narvaez home. Later Eaqueada scored on a fielding error by the Bears (4-2).
In the fourth inning, Smith doubled to right center and was brought home on a double down the left field line by senior infielder
Kimberlynn Brown. Brown crossed home plate for the second run of the inning when MSU committed a fielding error.
As the game continued Coppin had two hits in the sixth inning by senior
Lauren Rogers and Dakota Gartrell. Rogers hit a fielder's choice RBI that scored Smith for the third time of the game. In the seventh inning Benge singled while Gartrell sent a shot to left field for CSU's only hits. Smith capped off her stellar performance with a sacrifice fly out to right field scoring Benge for an 8-3 lead. Morgan State scored a final run in the seventh inning, but Coppin State won by a final of 8-4.
The teams will meet for a single game on Sunday, May 1
st at 12p.m. at the CSU softball field.
