BALTIMORE – The Howard University softball team split a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference doubleheader with Coppin State on Wednesday, April 20 at the CSU Softball Complex. The Lady Bison blanked the Lady Eagles in the series opener, 10-0 (5), before falling 16-8 in the nightcap. HU is 7-28 overall and 3-8 in conference play, while CSU is 3-27 and 3-8 in league action.
Game One
Senior
Janessa Flynn (5-12) picked up her fifth win of the season after tossing 3.2 innings, allowing only two hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
The Lady Bison's hot bats helped them tally at least one run in each of the five innings. Junior
Alex Flynn opened the game with a leadoff double and got to third on a groundout. Classmate
Imani Ballard started the scoring barrage after reaching on an error to plate the first run. Redshirt-senior
Jasmine Gammons followed up with an extra-base hit and junior
Milan Poindexter tripled to give the Lady Bison a 3-0 lead.
In the second, redshirt-sophomore
Deja Henderson, freshman
Alannah Baiyina and A. Flynn recorded three-straight singles to plate another run. The Lady Bison added a pair of runs off of a hit from
Tiyanna Stewart to stretch the advantage to 6-0.
Freshman
Jasmine Gibson crossed home plate on a fly out in the third and Ballard homered to center field in the visitor frame of the fourth.
The Lady Bison wrapped up the game after Henderson reached on an error and Baiyina singled to put two on base. A. Flynn drove a single to right field to push Henderson in for the final 10-0 victory.
Game Two
The Lady Bison strung together five consecutive singles to take an early 2-0 edge in the opening frame. Sophomore
Brooklyn Emory stepped up and smashed a grand slam over the left field fence to clear the bases and put the team ahead 6-0.
CSU responded with six runs of its own in the home half on six hits and six errors by the visitors to lock the score at 6-6. The Lady Eagles broke the game open in the second on a solo home run, a pair of singles and a triple for a 10-6 upper hand.
Gammons tried to get the team back into the game with a homer to center field but the home squad responded with two more runs to increase the gap to 12-7.
In the bottom of the fourth, CSU plated a run on an error but Emory's ground out in the top of the fifth helped score Poindexter for the Lady Bison's final tally.
The Lady Eagles added three runs with two outs in the sixth due to two errors and a single up the middle for a final score of 16-8.
The two squads will play a rubber match on Thursday, April 21 in Baltimore, Md. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
