GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina softball team earned a split on day one of the Jolly Roger Invite.

The Pirates defeated Cleveland State 5-1 before getting shut out by Ohio State 7-0 on Friday inside Max R. Joyner Family Stadium.
 
Jordan Hatch was the standout performer of the day for the Pirates (19-8), tossing a career-high 11 strikeouts in seven innings in the circle.
 
Game One: East Carolina 5, Cleveland State 1
ECU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead over Cleveland State in the bottom of the first inning after a couple of Vikings’ errors scored Taudrea Sinnie and Taylor Edwards and Bailee Wilson hit a single and advanced on the throw to score Anna Sawyer and put ECU up 3-0.
 
The Pirates’ offense would go quiet until the fifth inning where ECU tacked on two more runs to extend its lead to 5-0. Hatch (8-4) would continue her dominant game in the circle, not allowing a hit until the top of the seventh. Cleveland State would add a run on a sacrifice fly but Hatch would retire the next two batters to clinch the win for the Pirates.
 
Game Two: Ohio State 7, East Carolina 0
After a 10-0 win over Cleveland State earlier in the day, Ohio State’s offense would stay hot as Kami Kortokrax blasted a two-run shot over the wall to put the Buckeyes up 2-0. The Buckeyes would add two more runs in the top of the second for a 4-0 lead. Ohio State’s Melina Wilkison would hit a two RBI single to extend the Buckeyes’ lead to 7-0 and six of the Pirates’ next seven batters would fail to get on base in the loss.
 
Addy Bullis (10-3) gave up eight hits and seven runs against 28 batters faced for the loss while Allison Smith (7-3) tossed 11 strikeouts in seven innings of work for the win.
 
Up Next
The Pirates square off with Ohio State again at 3 p.m. on ESPN+ for the second day of the Jolly Roger Invite.