East Carolina University
Longwood
Pirates Fall To Longwood 3-0
May 08, 2011 | Softball
May 8, 2011
FARMVILLE, Va. - In its regular season finale, East Carolina dropped a 3-0 decision at Longwood (34-12) Sunday afternoon. Nichole Simmons led off the bottom of the first with a home run and Brittany Matthews hit a two-run long ball in the bottom of the fifth while Briana Wells limited the Pirates (36-20) to four singles.
Senior Toni Paisley (27-11) gave up the leadoff homer in the first and then retired the next 12 batters and 18 of the final 21. She allowed three hits, struck out five and walked one. The five whiffs moved Paisley into 21st place on the NCAA Division I career list with 1,238. She trails Kent State's Kylie Reynolds (2007-10) by 20 for 20th on the chart. Wells (31-12) surrendered the four singles, hit a batter and struck out four in the complete-game victory.
The Pirates had a runner on in each of the first three innings as freshman Jill Jelnick was hit by a pitch in the first, classmate Jasmine Robbins singled through the left side in the second and Jelnick beat out an infield single in the third. Neither Jelnick nor Robbins was able to advance to second base in any of the frames. Robbins' single in the second extended her hitting streak to a career-long five games.
In the top of the fifth, junior Priscilla Velasquez hit a one-out single to center field. Freshman Abby Wynne entered to pinch run, but was thrown out at second base on a bunt by classmate Alex Fieldhouse. A pop out to Wells in the circle ended the inning.
After the Simmons home run, the Lancers did not register another base runner until the bottom of the fifth when Ashley Kramer led off with a single off the glove of a diving Fieldhouse at third base. A sacrifice bunt moved Kramer to second and Paisley struck out the next hitter, but Matthews followed with a two-run homer to make it a 3-0 Longwood lead.
East Carolina had a two-out base runner in the top of the sixth as freshman Kristi Oshiro singled through the right side, but a strikeout closed the frame.
The Lancers had a chance to add to their lead in the bottom of the inning, but failed to convert. Simmons led off with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, advanced to third on a groundout, but was left stranded after a fly out.
Wells retired the Pirates in order in the seventh to seal the victory.
ECU returns to action Thursday, hosting the Conference USA Tournament. The Pirates are 8-12 at the league event and won last season's title game defeating UCF 3-1. The first of Thursday's four first-round contests starts at 11:00 a.m.
