Alvarado Leads Trio of Softball Players on All-MEAC Teams

NORFOLK, Va. - Coppin State's Brissa Alvarado, Vanessa Carrizosa and Seryna Esparza all earned MEAC Softball All-Conference honors, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday.  Alvarado received First Team honors while Carrizosa and Esparza earned Third Team accolades.
 
Taking home All-MEAC honors for the third time, Alvarado is now a two-time First Team selection after hitting .333 with seven doubles and 11 RBI in conference games while drawing eight walks, accumulating a .456 slugging percentage and .424 on-base percentage.  A redshirt senior second baseman from Rialto, Calif., Alvarado hit .296 for the season, leading the team in hits (32), doubles (9), extra-base hits (10), runs batted in (15) and walks (17). Alvarado had six multi-hit games, including a three-hit performance in a season-opening win over Bryant, and three multi-RBI games. She also homered in a loss at James Madison.
 
Alvarado is one of the top hitters in the history of Coppin State softball, hitting .315 with 123 career base hits. Her 78 walks is by far the most in CSU history and she ranks third in doubles (29) and games played (159), eighth in base hits and total bases (173) and tenth in batting average.
 
Carrizosa is also a three-time All-MEAC selection, receiving the nod this season at starting pitcher. A junior from Moreno Valley, Calif., Carrizosa went a career-best 11-12 with a 3.31 earned run average while striking out 52 batters in 141.2 innings of work.  Carrizosa was even better in conference play, going 8-7 with a 2.87 ERA, striking out 34 batters in 90.1 innings. Her 11 wins and 3.31 ERA were the seventh-best by a CSU pitcher in a single-season.
 
In 69 career appearances in the circle, the sixth-most in CSU history, Carrizosa also ranks fifth in wins (15), fifth in earned run average (4.79), sixth in innings pitched (336.1) and sixth in strikeouts (152).
 
One of the top rookies in the MEAC, Esparza hit a team-high (.327) while also leading the Eagles in hits (32), home runs (2), total bases (45), slugging percentage (.459), on-base percentage (.407) and OPS (.866). A freshman from Hollister, Calif., Esparza had seven multi-hit games and three games with multiple RBI.  Esparza had three-hit games at Towson and against Fairleigh Dickinson while slugging home runs against Howard and Bryant.
 
A program-record eight game winning streak in conference play propelled the Eagles into the fifth seed at the MEAC Tournament to be held in Norfolk, Va., on May 10-13.  Coppin will open the double elimination tournament against #4 Howard at 9:00 am on Wednesday, May 10. CSU took two of three games against the defending MEAC Champion Bison in the regular season.