Softball Gets Back On Track With Doubleheader Sweep In Hawai’i

Thursday, March 8

Honolulu, Hawai'i

4:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

Longwood

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

Softball Gets Back On Track With Doubleheader Sweep In Hawai’i

March 08, 2018 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

PDF Box Scores: Longwood | JMU

HONOLULU, Hawai'i – The ECU softball team returned to the win column Thursday in Hawai'i, defeating Longwood 4-3 in walkoff fashion before topping No. 23 JMU 4-1 at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. The Pirates snapped the Dukes' 12-game winning streak in the process.

Team Records
ECU: 8-15
Longwood: 9-8
JMU: 15-3

How It Happened (Game One): Leah Powell scored the game's first run after doubling to lead off the top of the third inning and scoring on a Pirate error later in the frame. ECU answered in the bottom of the fourth when freshman outfielder Tyler King doubled and crossed home plate on a Longwood error a batter later. The Pirates took the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff home run off the bat of redshirt sophomore infielder Tate McClellan. Senior infielder Meredith Burroughs made it a 3-1 contest in the bottom of the sixth, providing an insurance run with her team-leading fifth home run of the campaign.

Longwood rallied to tie the score in the top of the seventh, taking advantage of a leadoff walk and using a two-run blast by Powell to send the game to the bottom of the seventh knotted at three. McClellan doubled with one out, setting up two-out heroics by junior outfielder Ashley Weingartz who found the gap in left center and plated pinch runner Abigail Umphlett for the walkoff victory.

Pitchers of Record
WP – Erin Poepping (4-6)
LP – Sydney Gay (5-5)

ECU Top Performers
Tate McClellan: 2-for-3, Run, RBI, HR
Meredith Burroughs: 1-for-3, Run, RBI, HR
Mary Williams: 4.0 IP, 2 Hits, 1 Run, 3 Walks, 3 Strikeouts

Longwood Top Performers
Destiny Martinez: 2-for-2, Walk
Leah Powell: 2-for-3, 2 Runs, 2 RBI, HR

How it Happened (Game Two): The teams traded runs in the second inning with redshirt senior catcher Alex Mycek hitting her first home run of the season and Kiersten Roadcap tying the game with a RBI single in the home half of the frame. McClellan gave the Purple and Gold the lead for good in the top of the fourth, smashing a long home run to left center. She put the Pirates ahead even further in the top of the sixth, clubbing a two-run shot to extend the lead to 4-1. Redshirt junior RHP Ashley Cruise worked out of a pair of jams brilliantly in the sixth and seventh innings, earning her second save of the campaign.

Pitchers of Record
WP – Mary Williams (1-2)
LP – Payton Buresch (6-2)
SAVE – Ashley Cruise (2)

ECU Top Performers (Game Two)
Tate McClellan: 2-for-3, 2 Runs, 3 RBI
Kendra Ziemba: 2-for-3
Ashley Cruise: 1.2 IP, 1 Hit, 0 Runs, 1 Walk, 2 Strikeouts

JMU Top Performers
Kiersten Roadcap: 1-for-3, RBI
Sydney Lascola: 1-for-2, Run
Morgan Tolle: 1-for-3, Walk

Things to Note

ECU knocked off a nationally-ranked opponent for the first time since May 6, 2016 when it defeated No. 25 UCF 2-1 in Orlando.
The Pirates improved to 6-5 against JMU and 9-5 versus Longwood in the all-time series. The win over the Dukes was the first for ECU since March 4, 2007 – a span of five games.
James Madison entered the contest on a 12-game winning streak and ranked No. 23 in this week's ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Poll.
Mycek moved into a tie for eighth place on the ECU career list with her 20th career home run.
The Pirates hit five home runs during the day to increase its season total to 12. ECU has hit 76 home runs since the start of the 2017 campaign.

Up Next: ECU concludes its 10-game Hawai'i trip Friday night with another doubleheader against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6:30 p.m.) and BYU (9 p.m.).