BATON ROUGE, La. – Coppin State softball won their 2017 season-opener 10-5 at Southern University on Thursday, February 9, 2017 at the Lady Jaguar Field.
Sophomore pitcher
Madison Didion tossed a complete game striking out four batters and surrendering seven hits with no walks. Sophomore infielder
Cayla Brown led the Eagles at the plate with three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored while sophomore designated hitter
Melanie Benge also recorded three hits, two RBIs and one run scored. Sophomore infielder
Megan Narvaez finished with two hits, two RBIs and two runs score.
The last time Coppin State softball won their season-opening game was during the 2013 season defeating Virginia State 3-2 on Feb. 24, 2013.
The Eagles trailed (3-2) heading into the third inning when their offense exploded with four hits and two defensive errors led to four inning runs. They tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning and single runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings jumping ahead 10-3. Coppin State pounded out 12 total hits in the first game of their double header with the Jaguars.
Benge got things going in the second inning RBI singling to center field scoring Brown who singled to left field. Sophomore outfielder
Hatika James recorded the Eagles second RBI of the inning grounding out as sophomore infielder
Megan Narvaez crossed home plate.
Brown,
Cloe' Ochoa Narvaez and Benge all had hits in the third inning during Coppin State rally. Brown had her second hit of the afternoon singling to right field, Ochoa RBI singled to second base scoring outfielder
Alisha Esqueda while two errors led to both Ochoa and Brown scoring unearned runs.
Freshman
Haley Bravo had her first hit as an Eagle in the fourth inning singling to center field and then later scoring a run on a double to right-center field by Brown. Brown's third hit drove in Bravo and Esqueda highlighting the inning.
The Eagles doubled twice in the fifth inning with Benge blasting a shot to right field and junior
Nicole Ullman to left-center field. Ullman's first hit as an Eagle was an RBI double scoring Benge for the only run of the inning.
Bravo led the sixth inning off reaching on an error and then stealing second base. Later she crossed home plate for CSU's only run if the inning. Ochoa singled to center field and Narvaez also singled to center field for the Eagles only hits.
Melanie Benge hit her third career double and first of the season.
Cayla Brown finished with a career-high three hits, scoring two runs and totaling four bases,
Alisha Esqueda tied a career-high with two runs scored with a stolen base and defensively
Megan Narvaez posted career-best with seven putouts at first base.
In game two of the double header Southern won 13-2 pounding out 11 hits while holding the Eagles to only five hits. Coppin State score a run in the third and fifth innings by
Cayla Brown and
Melanie Benge.
Pitcher
Megan Narvaez took the mound and tied a career-best with three assists while also leading the Eagles at the plate with a pair of hits. Brown was the only one to record a multiple base hit doubling to left field in the first inning. In the fifth inning freshman Arianna Alderette was inserted into the lineup as a pinch runner and scored her first career run on a groundout to third base.
Coppin State returns to action on Friday, February 10
th at the Lions Classic hosted by Southeastern Louisiana. Their first game is a matchup against Southern Illinois at 5 p.m. in Hammond, LA.
