East Carolina found some offense and enjoyed standout pitching on Wednesday in the first round of the American Athletic Conference tournament at Wilkins Stadium in Wichita, Kan.
The Pirates shut out UAB 4-0, and advanced in the tournament for the first time since 2019. ECU played third-seeded North Texas at 1 p.m. in Thursday’s second round.
The winner will play No. 2 Charlotte in Friday’s semifinal round. Charlotte had a two-round bye into the semifinals.
On Wednesday, it was all ECU.
D.H. Conley product Anna Sawyer went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Kanisha Anderson hit an inside-the-park home run as the Pirates defeated the Blazers after losing a series against them to finish the regular season.
No. 7 seed ECU lost two of three games to UAB over the weekend, then drew the sixth-seeded Blazers in the tournament, making for four consecutive games against each other.
It was a tight game as both pitchers kept runs off the board until the sixth inning. ECU’s Annie Kate Dalton poked an RBI single to center to score the game’s first run and give ECU a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning with two outs, Sawyer hit a two-run single back up the middle for a 3-0 lead.
The Pirates (38-18, 13-14 AAC) scored one more run in the top of the seventh when Anderson homered with two outs. The win marked the first time ECU has advanced in the AAC tournament since the 2019 season.
Emma Jackson led off the game with her 24th double of the season and advanced to third but was stranded, and the Pirates didn’t have another scoring chance until the sixth inning.
Addy Bullis (14-5) was strong in the circle and tossed a three-hit, complete-game shutout. Bullis also reached the 300-career strikeout mark with three strikeouts.
The tournament win came on the heels of Jackson, Morgan Johnson and senior utility player Taylor Woodring being named to the 2024 All-American Athletic Conference second team. Also, freshman pitcher Taylor Apple was named to the AAC All-Rookie team.
The three second-team selections mark the most the Pirates have garnered in a single season as a member of The American since joining the league prior to the 2015 season. Apple’s All-Rookie team selection marks the third Pirate freshman in as many seasons under head coach Shane Winkler to earn a spot on the first-year team.
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