DURHAM, N.C. — The North Carolina Central University softball team will play its last Mid-Eastern Athletics Conference home series of the season when the host Eagles entertain the Coppin State University Eagles on Saturday-Sunday, April 23-24. NCCU will honor its senior class of three prior to first pitch of Sunday's series finale.
Fans are encouraged to check
NCCUEaglePride.com or the NCCU Eagles Athletics app for updates as the schedule is subject to change.
GAME INFO:
vs. Coppin State
DATE: Saturday, April 23 at 1 p.m. (DH)
DATE: Sunday, April 24 at 12 p.m.
LOCATION: Thomas Brooks Park, Cary, N.C.
WATCH:
NCCU Sports Network
FOLLOW:
LIVE STATS;
@NCCUAthletics
NC CENTRAL DUGOUT:
The Eagles will look to end a 10-game losing streak and are coming off an 8-0 road loss at UNC on Wednesday. NCCU has dropped its last six MEAC contests during that span to slip down to fifth place out of eight teams in the league standings.
NCCU's top two leading batters, who share time at the middle infield positions and who both pitch, have been crushing the ball in league play.
Freshman middle infielder/pitcher
Jaden Davis is the only Eagle with a batting average over .300 on the season. Davis is sporting a .33 batting average, including a sizzling .407 average in league play. Davis also leads the maroon and gray with nine stolen bases and 25 runs.
Sophomore middle infielder/pitcher
Jaylah Barr is batting .281 on the season, which balloons up to .390 against conference competition. Barr and sophomore utility player
Hailey Batista (.248) both have seven home runs on the season, which is good for a three-way tie for the most in the league with Howard's Kalita Dennis. Batista and Barr are also both in the top-10 of the MEAC in RBI with 24 and 23, respectively.
The Eagles continue lead the MEAC in total home runs hit this season with 28.
Freshman pitcher/designated player
Ashanti Eubanks (.282), who has reached base via hit or walk in 16 straight games, leads the league with a .509 on-base percentage.
Freshman outfielder
Jai'lyn Edwards is batting .333 in 14 league starts to increase her rookie batting average to .222 on the season while classmate
Jaidyn Hamby (.278) has the third best batting average of the team. Senior catcher/designated player
Madison Mifsud (.237) continues her steady play, ranking third on the team with 18 RBI. Junior second baseman/outfielder
Diamond Porter (.207) has scored 16 times and swiped eight bases. Classmate third baseman
Maegan Garrison (.217) has nine extra-base hits (4 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR) to rank third on the team with a .422 slugging percentage.
NCCU's top three pitchers all share similar ERA's for a staff and defense that has allowed the most total runs this season out of MEAC institutions, including Davis (2-7, 6.92 ERA, 39 SO, 57.2 IP), Eubanks (6-9, 7.33 ERA, 60 SO, 91.2 IP) and Barr (0-9, 8.48 ERA, 17 SO, 33.0 IP).
NCCU and Coppin State will be playing for only the third time since NC Central joined the league in 2011-12. The two Eagle programs split the first two meetings and CSU won last year, 10-6.
COPPIN STATE DUGOUT:
The Eagles have picked up all three of their wins on the season in the last two weeks, which included securing their first MEAC series win of the season against Delaware State University last weekend. Coppin State (3-33, 3-12) is coming off an 8-5 road loss at Howard in a makeup game on Tuesday. CSU is currently tied for sixth place in the league standings with DSU and could tie NCCU in the league standings with a series sweep this weekend.
After a strong rookie campaign that landed sophomore Vanessa Carrizosa on the All-MEAC Second Team last season, she has continued to be one of Coppin State's top players. Carrizosa leads the Eagles with a .311 batting average, nine doubles and three stolen bases while also supplying 16 RBI and 14 runs. In the pitcher's circle, Carrizosa (0-17, 6.28 ERA) has pitched nearly half of CSU's innings this season with a team-high 54 strikeouts in 91.1 innings.
Junior Isabella Zalba (.300) is Coppin State's second best hitter and has eight extra-base hits, including four doubles, three triples and one home run.
Junior Brissa Alvarado (.242) was First Team All-MEAC last season and she currently ranks as CSU's top power bat with team-best totals of 19 RBI and three home runs. She also has scored a team-high 21 times.
In last season's triumph over NCCU, Carrizosa led the victors with two hits and two runs scored while Zalba chipped in a two-run home run.
