March 12, 2012

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East Carolina Game 24: North Carolina Tuesday, March 13 | 5:00 p.m. ET Chapel Hill, N.C. (Anderson Stadium)

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EAST CAROLINA PIRATES Record 10-13 Last Game W, 5-3 vs. Valparaiso (3/11) Game Notes East Carolina Notes Statistics 2012 Stats NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS Record 17-7 Last Game L, 6-0 Long Beach State (3/10) Statistics 2012 Stats PIRATE SOFTBALL CENTRAL Gameday Central 2012 Fact Book 2012 Roster C-USA Softball NCAA Softball

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Coming off a 10-day spring break trip through California and Arizona, East Carolina (10-13) plays its first game within the state since Feb. 20 with a trip to North Carolina (17-7) on Tuesday for a 5:00 p.m. first pitch. The rivals had played every year in Pirate program history until taking a two-year break in 2010 and 2011. It will be the first meeting since the Tar Heels claimed a 1-0 victory April 21, 2009, in Chapel Hill.

Sunday versus Valparaiso, ECU rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to top the Crusaders 5-3. After tying the game in the fourth inning, the Pirates scored three times in the top of the fifth to take the lead as sophomore Kristi Oshiro drove in classmate Rebecca Lee for the game-winning run. Freshman Sarah Christian earned the win, throwing the final four innings and limiting Valparaiso to four hits and one run. Oshiro, sophomore Jordan Lewis and senior Priscilla Velasquez each recorded two hits in the contest.

The Pirates Against The Tar Heels
East Carolina has faced North Carolina 84 times, with the Tar Heels holding a 52-32 advantage in the all-time series. UNC has won two straight and 11 of the last 13 meetings.

The most recent contest had 12th-ranked UNC score in the bottom of the second and hold off the Pirates for the victory. Danielle Spaulding and Lisa Norris combined to allow just one hit, a single by Christina Merrida in the second inning, and strike out 13. UNC's Brittany Robinson drove in the only run on a two-out ground ball between Jessica Johnson at first and Charina Sumner at second. Sumner dove and stopped the ball, but Robinson beat the throw to first, allowing Ally Blake to score.

Holding Its Own Against In-State Foes
Tuesday's clash against the Tar Heels will be the second in-state foe East Carolina has faced in 2012. On Feb. 17, the Pirates topped UNCG 2-1 on a two-run home run by senior Suzanne Riggs.

The Pirates will be looking to continue their recent success against teams from North Carolina as they have won 17 of the last 20 contests against in-state foes, outscoring them 111-23.

East Carolina defeated UNCG twice and Campbell once near the end of 2009 and went 11-0 versus Campbell, N.C. Central, UNCG, N.C. State, UNC Wilmington and Elon during the 2010 campaign. A year ago the Pirates split with UNC Wilmington, winning 8-0 and falling 2-1, topped Campbell 6-0 and dropped two games to N.C. State, 2-1 and 5-4 in 10 innings.

Where We Are 23 Games In
Through 23 games, East Carolina's record sits at 10-13. The Pirates have already played six games against ranked teams, the most for the squad during the regular season since facing eight in 2008.

A year ago, ECU was 17-6 through 23 games, but had played just two ranked clubs. In 2010, when the schedule closely resembled this season's with five ranked squads in the first 23 contests, the group was 12-11. That unit featured junior pitcher Toni Paisley the year she earned All-America honors and the regular starting lineup had six seniors. This year's group has two freshman hurlers and seven underclassman starters.

A Grand Week
Last Tuesday at Cal State Fullerton, sophomore Jordan Lewis hit the initial grand slam of her career. It was East Carolina's first slam since Marina Gusman-Brown hit one March 7, 2010, at Hawai'i. The Pirates didn't stop there as Saturday versus Creighton classmate Kristi Oshiro also hit a grand slam for her first career long ball.

ECU had not hit two grand slams in the same season since Paige Baggett and Vanessa Moreno accomplished the feat in 2007 against the College of Charleston and UNC Wilmington.

Small Stature, Big Swing
In addition to the 5-foot-3 Oshiro's grand slam Saturday against the Blue Jays, she stroked a two-run single in her next at-bat for a career-high six runs batted in during the contest. She is the first Pirate with six RBI in a game since Baggett against the College of Charleston on Feb. 10, 2007, when she hit a grand slam and two-run home run.

Oshiro finished the five games at the Diamond Devil Invitational with eight runs batted in after entering the weekend with two RBI this season. She led the squad with a .714 slugging percentage and scored four runs, bringing her season total to 19, good for seventh in Conference USA.

Home Runs All Around
Oshiro, junior Kai Clark and sophomore Alex Fieldhouse all hit their first home runs of the season at last weekend's Diamond Devil Invitational. Oshiro's was the first of her career while Clark's was her first since March 27, 2011, versus Tulsa. Fieldhouse's last long ball was a solo home run against Houston on May 13, 2011, in the Conference USA Tournament that gave ECU a 1-0 victory and berth in the championship game.

The trio of homers gives East Carolina six in the last 10 games after going without a long ball for seven consecutive contests. In all, the Pirates have hit 10 home runs in 23 games, or an average of 0.43 home runs per contest. A year ago, the Pirates hit just 16 homers in 63 matchups, or 0.25 a tilt.

Watch Out, It's Getting Offensive
It was not just home runs that powered East Carolina's offense last week as the team posted a .302 batting average during the six games. Seven starters hit .300 or better for the week, led by sophomore shortstop Chelsea Kaluhiokalani-Glackin's squad-high .417 mark. Classmates Oshiro and Jill Jelnick tied for the team lead with seven hits while Oshiro and Kaluhiokalani-Glackin shared the squad's top spot in runs scored with six.

For the week, ECU averaged 6.0 runs, 8.2 hits and 1.8 stolen bases per game.

Sophomores On A Role
East Carolina's second-year players have dominated this season's offense as five of the team's top six hitters are sophomores. Fieldhouse leads the way with a .348 average while Jelnick is close behind at .313. Fieldhouse has a squad-high 24 hits and is tied with Lewis for top spot in runs batted in with 13. Oshiro paces ECU with 19 runs scored and eight stolen bases.