Baltimore, MD - In their home opener, the Coppin State softball program cruised over South Carolina State in a 10-2 victory behind the dominating pitching of
Madison Didion and a second inning explosion of runs for the Lady Eagles.
Didion struck out 11 Bulldogs in five innings of work and didn't give up her first hit until the third inning. She started off the game striking out the first two batters and struck out two more in the second inning. In the fourth, SC State managed to draw a walk and a single before Didion regrouped and struck out the side. Didion struck out the side again, but not before South Carolina State managed to tack on two runs in the top half of the fifth inning.
The pitching dominance was equally supported by the offensive onslaught in the first two innings.
Patricia Soria would leadoff for the Lady Eagles in the first inning and get hit by a pitch. She would advance to third after stealing second and taking an extra base on a throwing error. Two batters later,
Melanie Aguilera would knock in Soria to give Coppin State an early one run lead.
Nia Bowe would get things started for the Lady Eagles in the second inning with a single. Coppin would end up scoring six runs on three hits while also taking advantage of the Bulldog errors. Bowe,
Soraya Valdez-Frick,
Haley Bravo,
Alexis Genovese,
Megan Narvaez, and
Cloe Ochoa would all score to push the Coppin advantage 7-0 after two innings.
Bravo and Genovese would both start the third inning by singling and advancing into scoring position off a wild pitch. Both would end up scoring taking advantage of Bulldog miscues and increase the lead to 9-0.
Coppin would close out the game with Genovese and Narvaez drawing walks in the bottom half of the fifth before Ochoa would smash a triple and to pick up her fourth rbi of the day.
Coppin State softball returns to action on Sunday, March 17 as they travel for a doubleheader against University of Delaware. First pitch is slated for noon. The next home game for the Lady Eagles is currently scheduled for April 2, against Drexel University.
