Softball Wins Fifth-Straight MEAC Game; Rallies to Defeat NC Central, 6-4

BALTIMORE – Coppin State's softball team won its fifth-straight MEAC game with a 6-4 comeback victory against North Carolina Central University on Saturday at CSU Softball Complex.  With the win, Coppin improves to 9-24 overall and 6-10 in the MEAC while Central falls to 13-27 overall and 11-3 in league play.
 
This is the first time since the 2014 season that Coppin has won five-straight conference games.
 
Vanessa Carrizosa improved to 9-10 on the year as she allowed four runs in the complete game victory while striking out four.  She got stronger as the game went on with all four of her strikeouts coming in the final three innings.
 
Manaia Fonoti had two of the team's five base hits with a double and an RBI while Xzylia Maravilla crushed her first career home run. Celeste Gonzales and Seryna Esparza also recorded hits with Gonzales scoring twice, driving in another and drawing a walk.
 
NC Central scored all its runs in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead, and it remained a four-run advantage until Fonoti crushed a double to left, driving in Gonzales who had walked and stole a base.
 
Both teams went scoreless in the fourth, but Coppin took advantage of a pair of Central errors to score four runs in the fifth. Dillon Morgan drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a throwing error with Ava Camarena at the plate. Gonzales singled in Morgan for the first run of the inning, and a wild pitch scored another to make it a 4-3 score. Another fielding error allowed Gonzales to score and tie it up before Esparza put CSU on top with an RBI groundout.
 
Carrizosa stranded the bases loaded in the Central half of the sixth before Maravilla gave her some extra insurance with a home run to left field.
 
Central got the potential tying run to the plate in the seventh, but Carrizosa fanned Ivory Jones for the final out of the game.
 
Coppin and NC Central will meet in a 1 pm doubleheader on Sunday, April 23. Prior to the twinbill, CSU will honor Brissa Alvarado, Avianna Peterson and Shawnee Ronyak who will be appearing in their final home games at Coppin.