BALTIMORE – Coppin State's softball team matched a school-record for conference wins in a season as it swept a MEAC doubleheader against Norfolk State on Saturday afternoon at CSU Softball Complex. The Eagles (18-16, 13-4 MEAC) won the opener, 4-3, before blanking the Spartans, 9-0 in game two.
CSU's 13 conference wins matches its total from 2012 when the Eagles finished 20-22 overall and 13-5 in league play before dropping their first two games of the MEAC Tournament.
Game 1: Coppin State def. Norfolk State, 4-3
Coppin spotted Norfolk State three runs in the first two innings before
Vanessa Carrizosa cruised to blank the Spartans over the final five innings.
The Eagles tied the score at three with a three-run second inning with
Seryna Esparza scoring the first run from second base as
Brooklyn Tapusoa reached on a sacrifice bunt along with a throwing error. After Tapusoa stole second with Ulloa on third,
Julianna Mejia tied the score with a two-run single up the middle.
It remained tied until the seventh when Coppin won on an RBI groundout by
Manaia Fonoti.
Aniyah Haley started the inning with a single before stealing second. She advanced to third on a groundout by
Celeste Gonzales. Fonoti hit a sharp grounder to third and was thrown out at first, but Haley broke for home after the throw and just got under the tag for the winning run.
Haley and
Giselle Ulloa both had a pair of hits while Gonzales, Mejia and
Emily Quintero had the other base hits. Mejia had two RBI and Fonoti added the other.
Carrizosa won her 30
th career game while allowing just three runs on six hits while striking out four in her 49
th career complete game. At one point, Carrizosa retired ten-straight batters and got 17 of the last 19 batters out.
Game 2: Coppin State def. Norfolk State, 9-0 (5 inn.)
After
Emily Quintero threw a scoreless first inning, leadoff hitter
Aniyah Haley cranked the very pitch she saw over the fence in left field to give Coppin an early 1-0 lead.
That was all the run support that Quintero needed, but the Eagles continued to attack getting an RBI groundout by
Seryna Esparza and another RBI single by
Brooklyn Tapusoa in the inning.
Celeste Gonzales and
Manaia Fonoti scored on the plays after reaching on an error and a single, respectively, earlier in the frame.
Fonoti singled home Gonzales from second base in the second inning, increasing the advantage to 4-0, before the Eagles exploded for four runs on five hits in the third.
Giselle Ulloa led off the inning with a double and scored as Tapusoa followed with a single to right. Back-to-back base knocks from
Julianna Mejia and
Leslie Sereno loaded the bases before a sacrifice fly by
Xzylia Maravilla. The throw from center field was also wild, allowing another run to score, and Sereno got to third on a second error on the play by the third baseman.
Haley followed up with an RBI single, giving the Eagles an 8-0 lead after three.
Quintero stranded a pair of Spartans in the fourth and the Eagles got an insurance run in the bottom half as Esparza led off the fourth with a solo shot over the fence in right field.
Norfolk got a one-out walk before Quintero forced a 4-6-3 double play to wrap up the doubleheader.
Haley and Tapusoa both went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI as Fonoti and Mejia both had multi-hit games with a run. Esparza matched Haley and Tapusoa with a pair of RBI.
Quintero earned her second career shutout in the complete game, allowing just three hits while striking out three over 5.0 innings.
Up Next: Coppin wraps up the series with Norfolk State at 12 pm on Sunday, April 21. Prior to the game, the Eagles will recognize seniors
Vanessa Carrizosa and
Avianna Peterson.
