March 12, 2010

Gameday Central | Cal Round Robin Website | Complete Game Notes In PDF Form

BERKELEY, Calif. - The East Carolina softball team completes its spring break trip with this weekend’s Cal Round Robin. Action begins Friday at 6:00 p.m. EST with a game against the host No. 13 Bears (16-4). The Pirates complete the tournament Saturday against Cal State Fullerton (3-17) at 1:00 p.m. EST and UC Davis (7-12) at approximately 3:30 p.m. EST.

Wednesday, the Pirates split a doubleheader at Fresno State, dropping the first game 1-0 and taking the second 3-2 in eight innings. A solo home run in the third inning by Nicole Argene was the difference in the first contest. Freshman Cicely Lopez hit a game-winning, two-out single in the top of the eighth inning of the second contest to drive in senior Charina Sumner and give ECU the win.

Pirates Against The Bears ...
The all-time series between East Carolina and California is tied 1-1. The programs met twice when the Bears came to Greenville in 2006. California is actually the highest ranked opponent the Pirates have ever defeated, as they downed the No. 6 Bears 8-3 in Greenville March 26, 2006. In that contest, all eight ECU runs were via home runs as Jessica Johnson, Paige Baggett and Alison Monce all went deep.

This season, Cal has three players batting over .400, led by sophomore infielder Jace Williams’ .460 average. Sophomore outfielder Jamia Reid has a team-best 35 hits. In the circle, freshman Jolene Henderson has gone 6-2 with a 0.81 earned run average while junior Valerie Arioto has an 8-2 mark and a 1.83 ERA.

Double The Fun ...
Senior outfielder Vanessa Moreno’s two doubles at the Bank of Hawai’i Invitational Tournament last weekend gave her 36 in her career, tied for the sixth most ever recorded by a Pirate.

Strikeout Watch ...
Speaking of career records, junior pitcher Toni Paisley used nine strikeouts Wednesday night against Fresno State to move into seventh place on the Conference USA career whiff list. Paisley has recorded 642 strikeouts in her three-plus seasons. This season, she has picked up 104 whiffs in 80.1 innings of work.

Despite pitching against four ranked opponents, Paisley’s strikeout rate is actually higher at this point in the season than it was last season, when she was named the C-USA Pitcher-of-the-Year. Through 19 games in 2009, Paisley had fanned 82 batters in 82.1 innings of work.

Runs Needed Early ...
When East Carolina has scored first this season, the team has an impressive 9-3 mark. However, when opponents have been the first on the scoreboard, the Pirates are 0-8.

ECU is 0-9 when trailing after the fourth or fifth inning and 0-10 when behind after six frames. With the score tied after four or five innings, the Pirates are also winless at 0-2 and 0-1, respectively.

Two Is Better Than One ...
In the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader against Fresno State, East Carolina picked up a 3-2 victory. It was the Pirates’ first one-run victory of the season after dropping the first six.