Softball Looks For Southern Miss Sweep
May 02, 2010 | Softball
May 2, 2010
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - After two shutout victories over Southern Miss (22-24, 6-14 C-USA) Saturday afternoon, the East Carolina softball team (33-16, 12-5 C-USA) celebrates Senior Day and looks for the series sweep Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
In yesterday's opener, junior Toni Paisley threw her sixth shutout in her past seven starts as the Pirates won 4-0. The second contest had sophomore Suzanne Riggs driving in the game-winning run with a pinch-hit, walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh to lead ECU to the 1-0 triumph. Classmate Faith Sutton blanked Southern Miss on three hits.
Leading The Country ...
With the release of the NCAA statistics through April 25 games, East Carolina is ranked first in the nation with a .981 fielding percentage. The Pirates have committed just 22 errors in 47 games. For the past three seasons, ECU has not finished lower than third in the country in fielding percentage (second in 2007, .977; third in 2008, .980; third in 2009, .978).
Few Runs Allowed In April ...
Paisley and Sutton turned in their best work of the season in April, limiting opponents to just 17 runs. East Carolina actually scored more runs in the fifth inning alone (18) last month than foes had total. Overall, the Pirates outscored their opponents 63-17 in April.
Sharing The Winners ...
The Pirates have been a very balanced team this season with run production coming from every player in the lineup. Of ECU's 14 players on the roster, 12 have driven in the game-winning run at least once this year. Seniors Charina Sumner and Vanessa Moreno along with Riggs lead the way with four game winners.
Loving The Long Ball ...
After East Carolina's three-home run performance in game two at Houston last Saturday, the team has nine contests hitting two or more long balls this season, all since March 27. The Pirates had four multiple-homer games last year and had not collected nine or more in a season since producing 16 in 2007.
Long And Short ...
In last Saturday's second game at Houston, East Carolina had four hits - three solo home runs and a single.
Lots Of Zeros ...
This season, of the Pirates' 33 wins, 23 have been shutouts.
Two-Out Magic ...
ECU has scored 201 runs this season, 78 when there are two outs. That amounts to 38.8 percent of the team's total. Last weekend at Houston, the Pirates scored four of their six runs with two down, including all three solo home runs in Saturday's second contest.
The 1-0 Win ...
After not recording a 1-0 victory since topping Boston College in eight innings Feb. 15, 2008, the Pirates have picked up five such triumphs in the past three weeks. East Carolina defeated N.C. State 1-0 in the opener April 14, UTEP by the same scores in games one and three of the series April 17-18, Houston in the first contest last Saturday and Southern Miss in game two Saturday. The Pirates had not recorded five 1-0 wins in the same season since 2005, when they also had five.
Among The Nation's Best ...
In addition to leading the nation in fielding percentage, East Carolina's 1.74 earned run average is the 14th best.
Individually, Sumner is 13th in triples (5) and 19th in triples per game (0.11). Paisley ranks third nationally in shutouts (14), 14th in hits allowed per seven innings (3.72), 14th in strikeouts (271), 15th in earned run average (1.23) and 18th in victories (22).
