The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
East Carolina
UAB Falls To ECU 4-2 In Series Finale
4/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 7, 2012
Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. –The UAB softball team fell to Conference USA opponent East Carolina, 4-2, in the series finale in Greenville, N.C. at the ECU Softball Stadium.
The Blazers fall to 23-14 overall and 9-3 in C-USA action, while ECU improves to 16-23 and 4-8 in league play.
“I felt that we didn’t play our best ball today,” head coach Marla Townsend said. “Our mindset was to come in and win the day and we fell behind early were unable to come back. We have to keep improving.”
The Pirates got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning. Priscilla Velasquez singled up the middle for a base hit with two outs. Suzanne Riggs sent a long ball over the left field wall to score Velasquez and give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.
The Blazers strung two hits together in the top of the second inning, but couldn’t manufacture runs stranding two runners on base.
East Carolina put two runners on base with one out in the bottom of the second frame, ending the day for UAB starter Lannah Campbell as Amber Torres took over in the circle. Torres walked Kristi Oshiro and the bases full. Jill Jelnick singled through the right side and plated two additional runs for ECU.
UAB shortstop Heather Pearson drew a leadoff walk in the top of the third frame and advanced to second on an infield single by Whitney Fletcher. With two on and no outs, Catherine Crawford grounded out to the pitcher, advancing the base runners 60 feet. Kayla Orr hit a deep sacrifice fly to center and Pearson scored from third. Mandy Lowman singled in the next at bat to plate Fletcher and the Blazers cut ECU’s lead in half 4-2.
But it wasn’t enough at the Pirates shut the Blazer bats down, allowing just two hits in the next three innings.
The Blazers used a combination of pitchers to hold East Carolina off the board for five innings in Lauren Webster and Amber Torres.
Campbell suffered the loss, pitching 1.1 innings with four earned runs on four hits. Torres and Webster both pitched 2.1 innings. Torres scattered three hits and Webster allowed one with four strikeouts.
The Blazers return to action on Tuesday, April 10 when they host Samford in a doubleheader scheduled to start at 5 p.m. CT.
