Spring Break
Softball loses late to No. 14 UNC
Hart Holloman
Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: Sports
|
"I think our offensive approach was atrocious today," said ECU head coach Tracey Kee. "When you aren't hitting for average as a team, you can't go in there expecting to be walked all night."
ECU was coming off a weekend that saw its 11-game winning streak snapped by Tulsa in the finale of their three-game set with the Golden Hurricane.
Wednesday's game turned out to be a pitcher's duel until late in the proceedings. Pirate pitcher Toni Paisley kept the potent Tar Heel line-up quiet for most of the game. She took a shutout into the sixth and was unlucky not to walk away with the win. Paisley went seven strong innings, giving up both runs while scattering eight hits. She also fanned six Tar Heel batters while only giving up one walk.
"I don't think Toni threw her A-game today," Kee said. "I know it's weird to say a kid struggled when she had a three-hit shutout going into the sixth inning, but she struggled to find her rhythm today.
"Even [Toni] said she made a few mistakes late and they took advantage of them," Kee added. "They're North Carolina, they're going to do that. They're not ranked 14th in the country for nothing."
Two UNC hurlers combined to keep the Pirates' line-up in check. Danielle Spaulding threw the first three innings for the Tar Heels, but she found herself in an awkward position with the scoreboard showing her throwing a no-hitter against the Pirates--even though ECU held a one-run lead--courtesy of a walk and a throwing error by the UNC defense. Out of the 10 batters she faced, Spaulding struck out five and left the Pirates looking for more runs.
But Spaulding's replacement proved to be just as adept at keeping ECU from crossing the plate. Lisa Norris came in for the Tar Heels and all but shut down the Pirates for the remainder of the contest. She gave up three hits and walked one in her four innings of relief work while striking out six Pirates and picking up the win.
But the real story was the Pirates' lack of offensive firepower. And Kee was not pleased with her team's production at the plate.
"We looked at pitches across the plate all night with runners on and without runners on," she said. "When you're hitting .230 as a team, people aren't going to pitch around you and we have to start swinging the bats."
And with a weekend trip to UTEP on the horizon, ECU needs to find its offense--and quick, a fact not lost on Kee.
"We know if we put three hits on the board against UTEP like we did today, we're in for a long weekend," she said.
After returning from their weekend trip to El Paso, Tex., the Pirates will host another in-state rival in a mid-week game when N.C. State comes to Greenville next Wednesday.
This writer can be contacted at sports@theeastcarolinian.com.
Be the first to comment on this story