Coppin State advances to MEAC Softball Championship game with 10-inning win over N.C.Central

NORFOLK, Va., May 9, 2024 --- After a 10-inning battle, the Eagles of Coppin State defeated the Eagles from North Carolina Central 4-3 with a walk-off single from Seryna Esparza in the championship bracket semifinal game.

Coppin State has secured their second straight MEAC Championship appearance with the win. North Carolina Central remains in the championship tournament running but will have to fight through the consolation bracket to advance to the championship game on Saturday, May 11.

Seryna Esparza finished the game 2-for-5 with three RBI while Aniyah Haley, who scored the winning run and doubled twice, and Manaia Fonoti had three hits apiece. Vanessa Carrizosa improved to 15-14 on the year, allowing just three runs on seven hits in 10.0 innings pitched for her NCAA-leading 24th complete game.

For North Carolina Central, Hailey Batista hit her team-high seventh home run of the season and later scored a game-tying single by Tyler Suttles in the seventh inning to force extra innings.

After a slow opening inning, pitchers Carrisoza from Coppin State and Davis from N.C. Central exchanged a three up three down inning in the second.

In the third inning, Haley and Quintera loaded first and second base off fielding errors from NCCU. Fonoti hit an RBI single then advanced to second, allowing for all the bases to load up, which was cleared with a two RBI single from Esparza and unearned runs from Gonzales and Fonoti.

Batista from North Carolina Central scored an RBI homerun in the fourth inning, to then leave Coppin State runless to close out the inning trailing 3-2.

The score remained 3-2 until the seventh inning, where Suttles tied the game with an RBI single.

Despite both teams placing batters on the bags in the bottom of the seventh, the teams remained deadlocked at three all to bring on extra innings.

Carrisoza threw a 1,2,3 in the following two innings, as both teams remained scoreless through the ninth.

At the bottom of the tenth inning Aniyah Haley hit a double and advanced to third. Gonzales advanced to first base after getting hit by a pitch from Davis. Esparza hit an RBI single to score Haley for the winning run putting the CSU Eagles up 4-3 win as Coppin State won its second straight ten inning game to advance to the championship on Saturday, May 11 on ESPN+ as 12:00 pm.