The Game: Towson Tigers (25-23, 14-10 CAA) vs. Coppin State Eagles (12-25, 9-11 MEAC)
Where: Towson Softball Stadium – Towson, Md.
When: Friday, May 5 – 2:30 p.m.
Broadcast: Live stream on FloSoftball, live stats at TowsonTigers.com

TOWSON, Md. – Towson softball will conclude the 2023 regular season with a home matchup against Coppin State on Friday, May 5 at 2:30 p.m. This will be the final tune-up for the Tigers before the 2023 CAA Softball Championships at Hofstra next week.

The Tigers are coming off an 11-1 loss at Maryland on Tuesday night. Briana Ramirez had a pair of hits and drove in the only run for the Tigers in the contest. Towson has concluded their CAA schedule and are currently in fifth place, having clinched a spot in the conference tournament. Final seeding for the conference tournament will be determined after the remainder of the games on Saturday.

Towson and Coppin State have met 22 times prior to Friday and have met once already this season. Towson holds a 20-2 lead in the all-time series, however the Eagles had an extra inning win against the Tigers back in early March.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES:
Coppin State enters the contest at 12-25, 9-11 MEAC on the season and will be playing in their final game before their conference tournament. The Eagles are 6-13 on the road this season that includes a win against the Tigers earlier this year. Most recently Coppin State split a double header with South Carolina State on the road this past Saturday. Seryna Esparza leads the Eagles with a .337 batting average and two home runs. Brissa Alvarado has driven in a team-best 15 runs. Vanessa Carrizosa leads the pitching staff with 137.2 innings in the circle and a 3.31 ERA with 51 strikeouts.

TIGERS HONORED:
Five different Tigers have earned CAA weekly awards so far in the 2023 season. Maddie Gardner was named pitcher of the week back on February 21 while Addie Ferguson was named rookie of the week the following week. Most recently, Madyson Peters was named player of the week on March 20 after leading Towson to their first CAA series sweep since 2019. Peters earned her second player of the week award on April 3 after leading the Tigers to another series sweep of Drexel.

Most recently Cori Jones and Kristin Toland earned CAA Player and Rookie of the Week honors on April 17 after leading the Tigers to a 4-0 week that included a sweep of North Carolina A&T.

COSTELLO SETS RECORD:
Towson head coach Lisa Costello broke her record for conference wins in a single season with the Tigers 5-3 victory against Stony Brook. Towson finished the conference season at 14-10, the most wins in a single season in the CAA for Costello. The previous mark was 13 wins in the CAA, as Costello has had 14 wins twice while the Tigers were members of the America East.

NEWCOMERS:
Towson will have 10 newcomers suit up in the Black and Gold for the 2023 season. Eight of the ten newcomers are freshman who will be making their collegiate debuts, joining a pair of DI transfers in Erin Brown (Thousand Oak, Calif./La Reina/St. John's) and Maddie Gardner (Sun Prairie, Wisc./Sun Prairie/South Florida).

Brown comes to Towson from St. John's University where she made 46 appearances in the circle with 25 starts throwing 173.2 innings. She amassed an 11-20 record with nine complete games, three shutouts and two saves. Her best season came during the Covid shortened 2020 campaign, going 5-6 with a 2.95 ERA in 61.2 innings.

Gardner made six appearances in two seasons for USF in the circle. She sported a 1-0 record in five appearances in 2021, picking up a victory against Florida Atlantic in 2.0 innings of relief.

Alyssa Myint, Nadia Martyniuk, Cheyenne Beayon, Isabella Canesi, Cara Bohner, Addie Ferguson, Kellie Zoerb and Grace Franczyk will also suit up for the Tigers in 2023.

NEW LOOK PITCHING STAFF:
Towson returns just two pitchers who saw action in the 2022 season in Paige Kostick and Sydni Byers. Kostick saw action in seven games with four starts, tossing 28.1 innings with 11 strikeouts. Byers appeared in five games out of the bullpen. Also returning for the Tigers will be Morgan Wagner who missed the 2022 season due to an injury.

Three newcomers will join the pitching staff in freshman Cheyenne Beayon and transfers Erin Brown and Maddie Gardner. Beayon comes to Towson from Mount De Sales with Brown and Gardner transferring from St. John's University and University of South Florida. Brown made 46 career appearances for the Red Storm with nine complete games. Gardner made six appearances in her two seasons with the Bulls.

OFFENSIVE DEPTH:
The Tigers return four of their top five hitters from 2022, including offensive leader Briana Ramirez. Ramirez led Towson with a .379 batting average and a .434 slugging percentage a year ago. Ramirez finished second in the CAA in batting and will enter 2023 as the top returning hitter from a year ago while also finishing third in hits with 55 in 2022.

Mackenzie Lake, Sydni Byers, and Madyson Peters also return to help a Towson offense that hit .252 from the plate in 2022. Lake finished the year with a .303 batting average, leading the team with seven doubles and five home runs. Byers hit .256 tying Lake with seven doubles and team-best 25 RBIs. Peters went .245 from the dish with 27 hits and six doubles.

NEXT GAME:
Towson will head to Long Island for the 2023 CAA Softball Championships next week. The Tigers will learn their seeding and opponent following this weekend's games. Stay tuned to TowsonTigers.com for the latest information about the tournament.