CONWAY, S.C. – The East Carolina softball team got off to a strong start at the Battle at the Beach tournament in Conway, S.C., defeating Drexel 4-1 and Colgate 6-2 on Friday afternoon at St. John Stadium.
The Pirates (5-2) have now won four straight and will face Colgate (2-4) at 10 a.m. and Drexel (0-1) at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Game One: East Carolina 4, Drexel 1
The Pirates and Dragons had a pitching duel through the first three innings as Drexel’s Ashley Errico’s single in the second inning was the only hit for either side. ECU’s offense would wake up in the bottom of the fourth inning as Taudrea Sinnie, Taylor Edwards and Anna Sawyer each hit singles to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.
Drexel will earn its first run in the top of the fifth inning but ECU would add two more runs in the bottom of the inning to give itself enough of a cushion to earn the win.
Addy Bullis (2-0) only gave up two hits and one run in 6.1 innings pitched and struck out three Dragons. Payton Hudson recorded two strikeouts in 0.2 innings pitched. Lindsay Nelson (0-1) allowed four hits and four runs in five innings in the circle.
Game Two: East Carolina 6, Colgate 2
ECU would come out strong in the first inning as Sinnie would steal second after being walked at the plate to put the Pirates in scoring position early. Sawyer would hit a double down the left field line to bring Sinnie home and put the Pirates ahead 1-0.
After three straight scoreless innings, Sawyer would make another huge play for the Pirates with a single that would bring Sinnie across the plate once again to extend ECU’s lead to 2-0. Colgate would answer in the bottom of the fifth when Adrienne Nardone hit a solo home run to get the Raiders on the board.
Logan Sutton would hit the Pirates’ first home run of the season in the top of the sixth to make it 3-1 and ECU would tack on three more runs in the seventh innings to cruise to its second win of the day.
Jordan Hatch (3-1) picked up her third win of the season for the Pirates, tossing six strikeouts in six innings. Bailey Misken (1-2) allowed six of the Pirates’ nine hits in six innings pitched.
