Pirates Drop AAC Opener At Memphis, 9-8 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of ECU Sports.

    MEMPHIS, Tenn.     East Carolina racked up 10 hits and pounded out four home runs Friday evening, but Memphis took advantage of four Pirate errors and drew seven walks to post a 9-8 win in both teams' American Athletic Conference opener at the Tigers Softball Complex.

    ECU (16-13, 0-1 AAC) and Memphis (13-18, 1-0 AAC) will reconvene Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. for the middle game of the series.

    Jocelyn Alonso put together her best effort of the season offensively, going 3-for-3 with a run scored and four RBI via a grand slam in the sixth. Bailey Ledvina also chipped in with two hits, two runs scored and two RBI. Zoe Adebayo paced the Tigers with a hit and drove in two runs.

    Addy Bullis (3-2) was tagged with the loss, surrendering the tying and go-ahead runs in 1.2 innings of work. She walked two and struck out one. Mikayla Hoschak (3-5) was the winning pitcher as she tossed 1.1 scoreless frames in relief with two walks and a strikeout.

    Memphis threatened in the home half of the first with a pair of runners in scoring position, but Logyn Estes induced a pop up to short to erase the Tigers in the frame and keep things scoreless.

    Sophie Wools put ECU on top in the third, belting a leadoff home run to left center, but Memphis responded in the home half of the frame by loading the bases with no outs via a pair of walks and a Pirate error. Kendall Lee kept things moving by drawing a four-pitch walk that knotted the score at one. Madisyn Davis entered the circle at that point in an attempt to preserve the tie and she did just that, stranding the bases loaded via a pop up and two strikeouts.

    Ledvina propelled East Carolina back on top in the fourth with a two-run long ball that plated Bailee Wilson who had led off the inning with a double down the left field line. The Tigers answered once more, scoring five runs on four hits and a Pirate error in the bottom of the frame to grab a 6-3 lead.

    ECU attempted to reduce its deficit in the top of the fifth as Alonso and Faith Jarvis doubled and and singled consecutively with one out, but Memphis was able to turn its second double play of the contest to preserve its three-run cushion.

    After the Tigers utilized a pair of East Carolina errors to plate an unearned run and move in front 7-3, the Pirates received a home run from Sydney Yoder to slice the Memphis edge to three. ECU was then able to load the bases with a pair of walks and a Ledvina single before Alonso stepped up and took a 3-2 offering over the wall in left center for a grand slam that boosted the Pirates back in front, 8-7.

    With two away in the bottom of the sixth, Adebayo pinch hit and delivered with a two-run double that resulted in another lead change - this time putting the Tigers back on top 9-8. East Carolina drew a pair of walks in the top of the seventh but could not push the tying run across.