BALTIMORE – Brooklyn Tapusoa slugged a home run and drove in five runs as Coppin State's softball team took the second game of a doubleheader, 15-3, against North Carolina Central University on Saturday afternoon. CSU fell in the opener, 6-2 and now stands at 3-15 overall and 3-5 in the MEAC.
Game 1: NC Central defeats Coppin State, 6-2
NC Central got out to a quick 2-0 lead off starting pitcher
Tatjana Harris and added a run in the second and three in the third to take a six-run lead.
CSU got on the board in the third on an RBI single by
Giselle Ulloa and
Brooklyn Tapusoa added another un in the frame with a bases-loaded walk.
Both teams went scoreless over the next four innings with Coppin threatening in the fifth and sixth with a pair of baserunners to no avail.
Coppin had just four bases hits, coming from four different players with Ulloa and Tapusoa reaching twice safely with a base hit and a walk. Harris went the distance in the circle, allowing three earned runs while striking out four.
Game 2: Coppin State defeats NC Central, 15-3 (5 innings)
After
Emily Quintero started the game with a 1-2-3 first inning, the Navy & Gold gave her some early help as
Brooklyn Tapusoa found the gap in left center for a two-run double. Her two-base knock drove in both
Giselle Ulloa and
Xzylia Maravilla.
Both teams were scoreless in the second before Coppin erupted for nine runs in the third, coming on four hits and three NC Central errors. The first run came on a single by
Julianna Mejia, with an error allowing
Aniyah Haley to score. Mejia later scored on a wild pitch before Tapusoa went opposite field for a two-run home run. Haley later singled home a pair of runs before Mejia did the same in the next at bat. Tapusoa later drove in another run with a bases-loaded walk.
NC Central got on the board with a run in the fourth, which Coppin got right back in its half of the inning on a two-run home run by
Paris Pinkston. CSU added another run later in the frame on an RBI single by Haley, who later scored on a wild pitch.
Central got a pair of runs on two hits in a last ditch effort in the fifth, but it was not enough to extend the game.
Tapusoa, Haley and Mejia all had multi-hit games and the trip combined for eight RBI and six runs scored. Quintero helped her own cause with a 1-for-3 day where she doubled and scored twice.
Natasha Arroyo and Maravilla both scored two runs apiece with Maravilla drawing three walks.
Quintero was charged with just one earned run on five hits while striking out three in the complete game.
Up Next: The same two teams close out their series at 12 pm on Sunday, March 30 at the CSU Softball Complex.
