Walkoff Homer Lifts ECU Over Houston In AAC Softball Opener

Friday, March 23

Greenville, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

15-16, 0

Houston

19-10, 0

Houston

ECU

Walkoff Homer Lifts ECU Over Houston In AAC Softball Opener

March 23, 2018 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Redshirt senior catcher Alex Mycek belted a walkoff home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning Friday night to propel ECU to a 3-2 extra-inning victory over Houston in the teams' American Athletic Conference opener at the ECU Softball Stadium. The Pirates have won six games in a row and nine of their last 10.

Team Records
ECU: 15-16, 1-0 AAC
Houston: 19-10, 0-1 AAC

How It Happened: After ECU turned a slick double play to end the top of the first, the Pirate offense went right to work in the home half. Freshman outfielder Tyler King led off with a sharp single to third base and moved to second on a wild pitch. Freshman infielder Ashleigh Inae pushed her to third with a textbook sacrifice bunt and, with two outs on the board following a strikeout, redshirt sophomore infielder Tate McClellan plated King with a single to center field. Mycek followed with a single through the right side and junior outfielder Ashley Weingartz roped a RBI single up the middle to plate McClellan from second and leave ECU with a 2-0 lead after the first frame.

The Cougars were able to tie the game in the top of the second via an Aspen Howie RBI double and a passed ball that later plated Howie from third. The pitchers settled in from there, putting up zeros all the way to the eighth inning. The Pirates had prime opportunities in the third and fifth innings to break the game open, but with runners on the corners and no outs in both stanzas, ECU could not push across any runs.

After Poepping stranded a pair of Houston runners on base in the top of the eighth, Mycek wasted no time in the home half and crushed the first pitch over the left field wall to seal the victory.

Pitchers of Record
WP – Erin Poepping (8-6)
LP – Savannah Heebner (12-3)

ECU Top Performers
Alex Mycek: 2-for-4, Run, RBI, HR
Tate McClellan: 1-for-4, Run, RBI
Tyler King: 2-for-4, Run
Erin Poepping: 8.0 IP, 6 Hits, 2 Runs, 1 Earned Run, 3 Walks, 4 Strikeouts

Houston Top Performers
Aspen Howie: 1-for-4, Run, RBI, 2B
Sarah Queen: 1-for-3, Run, Walk
Savannah Heebner: 7.0 IP, 3 Runs, 10 Hits, 0 Walks, 3 Strikeouts

Things to Note

ECU improved to 18-34 against Houston in the all-time series.
The Pirates won their league opener for the first time since joining the American Athletic Conference prior to the 2015 campaign.
Poepping tossed a career-high eight innings and twirled her fourth complete game of the season.
ECU handed Heebner just her third loss of the season in the circle.
The Pirates put five of their eight leadoff batters on base while Houston went 1-for-11 with runners on base.

Up Next: Due to inclement weather in the forecast for Sunday, ECU and Houston will now play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at Noon to wrap up the series.