Friday, March 31
Greenville, N.C.
6:00 p.m.
East Carolina University
18-18, 0
9
vs
0
UCF
17-16, 0
1
2
3
4
5
R
H
E
UCF
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
East Carolina
1
6
0
0
2
9
8
0
Softball Opens AAC Series With 9-0 Run-Rule Victory Over UCF
March 31, 2017 | Softball
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina twirled its second-straight shutout in American Athletic Conference play Friday evening, using effective pitching and the long ball to record a 9-0, five-inning victory over UCF at the ECU Softball Stadium.
Â
The Pirates followed up Sunday's 4-0 win at Memphis with an equally impressive pitching performance against the Knights, limiting the visitors to a lone hit.
Â
Team Records: East Carolina: (18-18, 2-2 AAC) | UCF: (17-16, 1-3 AAC)
Â
The Rundown
Senior outfielder Kacie Oshiro collected four RBI as her grand slam in the bottom of the second inning essentially put the game out of reach. A trio of Pirates notched two hits each, including a two-run, two-RBI performance by freshman utility player Logan Wood. Jazmine Esparza tallied the only hit of the evening for the visiting Knights.
Â
Senior RHP Lydia Ritchie (10-6) tossed her eighth complete game of the campaign and second complete-game shutout, walking just one batter and striking out four. Kamryn Toney (4-3) surrendered six runs (five earned) on three hits in just 1.1 innings of work as the losing pitcher.
Â
How They Scored
Junior infielder Meredith Burroughs launched a two-out solo home run over the net in right field in the bottom of the first inning to give ECU a quick 1-0 advantage.
Â
The Pirates kept the offense going in the home half of the second as senior outfielder Ali Ramirez and redshirt freshman infielder Tate McClellan produced a single down the left field line and a well-hit double into the left center gap to stand on second and third with no outs. Wood then drew a walk to load the bases before the UCF third baseman botched a grounder and allowed Ramirez to score and keep the bases juiced with no outs on the board. Then, with one away, senior outfielder Ciara Ervin worked a walk to bring in the third run of the day and Oshiro dropped a 3-1 pitch over the wall in right center for a grand slam to make it a 7-0 margin.
Â
The scoring settled down from there as Ritchie did not allow the Knights to get anything going at the plate. In the bottom of the fifth with pinch runner and freshman Olivia Narron on first after a Ramirez single up the middle, Wood clubbed a no-doubt long ball to left center to end the contest via the run rule.
Â
Statistic of the Game
ECU pounded out three home runs to increase their AAC-leading total to 44. The Purple and Gold entered the weekend ranked fifth nationally in total home runs (41).
Â
Up Next
East Carolina will take on UCF in game two of the series Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Â
The Pirates followed up Sunday's 4-0 win at Memphis with an equally impressive pitching performance against the Knights, limiting the visitors to a lone hit.
Â
Team Records: East Carolina: (18-18, 2-2 AAC) | UCF: (17-16, 1-3 AAC)
Â
The Rundown
Senior outfielder Kacie Oshiro collected four RBI as her grand slam in the bottom of the second inning essentially put the game out of reach. A trio of Pirates notched two hits each, including a two-run, two-RBI performance by freshman utility player Logan Wood. Jazmine Esparza tallied the only hit of the evening for the visiting Knights.
Â
Senior RHP Lydia Ritchie (10-6) tossed her eighth complete game of the campaign and second complete-game shutout, walking just one batter and striking out four. Kamryn Toney (4-3) surrendered six runs (five earned) on three hits in just 1.1 innings of work as the losing pitcher.
Â
How They Scored
Junior infielder Meredith Burroughs launched a two-out solo home run over the net in right field in the bottom of the first inning to give ECU a quick 1-0 advantage.
Â
The Pirates kept the offense going in the home half of the second as senior outfielder Ali Ramirez and redshirt freshman infielder Tate McClellan produced a single down the left field line and a well-hit double into the left center gap to stand on second and third with no outs. Wood then drew a walk to load the bases before the UCF third baseman botched a grounder and allowed Ramirez to score and keep the bases juiced with no outs on the board. Then, with one away, senior outfielder Ciara Ervin worked a walk to bring in the third run of the day and Oshiro dropped a 3-1 pitch over the wall in right center for a grand slam to make it a 7-0 margin.
Â
The scoring settled down from there as Ritchie did not allow the Knights to get anything going at the plate. In the bottom of the fifth with pinch runner and freshman Olivia Narron on first after a Ramirez single up the middle, Wood clubbed a no-doubt long ball to left center to end the contest via the run rule.
Â
Statistic of the Game
ECU pounded out three home runs to increase their AAC-leading total to 44. The Purple and Gold entered the weekend ranked fifth nationally in total home runs (41).
Â
Up Next
East Carolina will take on UCF in game two of the series Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ritchie, Lydia (10-6)
L: TONEY, Kamryn (4-3)
Base Running:
SB: ESPARZA, Jazmine 1
Batting:
2B: McClellan, Tate 1
HR: Oshiro, Kacie 1 ; Burroughs, Meredith 1 ; Wood, Logan 1
RBI: Ervin, Ciara 1 ; Oshiro, Kacie 4 ; Burroughs, Meredith 1 ; Wood, Logan 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Ervin, Ciara 1 ; Oshiro, Kacie 1 ; Burroughs, Meredith 1 ; Ramirez, Ali 1 ; McClellan, Tate 1 ; Wood, Logan 2 ; Smith, Karlie 1 ; Quick, Megan 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
2
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
4
Players Mentioned
INF/RHP
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballUTIL
/ Softball
RHP
/ SoftballUTIL
/ SoftballECU Softball vs Campbell
Tuesday, April 15
ECU Softball vs Memphis
Saturday, April 05
ECU Softball vs Boston College
Sunday, February 23
ECU Softball vs Canisius
Saturday, February 22
