East Carolina Posts 4-0 Non-Conference Victory Over N.C. Central

Tuesday, April 11

Greenville, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

NC Central

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

East Carolina Posts 4-0 Non-Conference Victory Over N.C. Central

April 11, 2017 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Senior RHP Lydia Ritchie produced her fourth complete-game shutout of the season Tuesday evening as East Carolina rolled past N.C. Central 4-0 in a non-conference softball contest at the ECU Softball Stadium.

Team Records: East Carolina: (20-23) | N.C. Central: (8-26)

ECU hit two more home runs in the contest as the Pirates have racked up an American Athletic Conference-best 52 long balls this season – six away from matching the program single-season record and two from tying the league's single-season standard.

The Rundown
Junior infielder Karlie Smith rapped out two hits with a run scored and a RBI while junior infielder Meredith Burroughs accounted for a run scored and a RBI. The Eagles had three hitters record a base knock in Lauren Sitterson, Kim Mobley and Brianna Hampton.

Ritchie (12-10) collected seven strikeouts and walked just one batter in going the distance, retiring the first 10 batters she faced. Dominique Wilson (7-14) was touched up for four runs on seven hits while striking out five batters and walking three.

How They Scored
With Ritchie cruising through the first part of the contest, Burroughs afforded her some early run support as she laced a RBI single into right center to score senior outfielder Ciara Ervin who led the game off with a walk. In the bottom of the third, senior outfielder Ali Ramirez doubled the lead when she pounded a ball to the gap in left center that allowed Burroughs to cross home plate and make the score 2-0.

ECU began to square around on Wilson in the bottom of the sixth as Mycek and Smith cleared the left field fence nearly consecutively to push the Pirate edge to 4-0. NCCU was able to put two runners in scoring position in the top of the seventh, but Ritchie induced a pop up to second and a fly ball to center field to erase the Eagles for good.

Statistics of the Game
Ritchie threw a first-pitch strike on 18 of the 25 batters she faced in an efficient 91-pitch effort. Burroughs and senior outfielder Kacie Oshiro also reached base safely for the 15th and 10th-straight games respectively.

Up Next
East Carolina welcomes UConn to Greenville later this week for a three-game American Athletic Conference series. The teams will play a Thursday-Saturday set due to the Easter holiday. Game one on that Thursday evening is set for 6 p.m. EDT.