BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Lizabeth McCurry blasted two home runs to lead Campbell to an 8-3 victory over in-state rival East Carolina on Tuesday evening at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium. With the win, Campbell moves to 16-19 on the year, while East Carolina falls to 15-22 during the 2018 campaign.
Four Camels had multi-hit games versus the Pirates, including
Bri Bryant (4-for-5),
Katie Manring (3-for-4),
Lizabeth McCurry (2-for-3) and
Christa Hall (2-for-3). In addition, McCurry and Manring both had multi-RBI games with five and two, respectively.
ECU opened up the scoring in the first, plating two runs to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Tyler King lead-off with an infield single and scored two plays later off a groundout by Ashleigh Inae. Tate McClellan tacked on another run for the Pirates off a double by Alex Mycek.
Campbell battled back in the bottom of the first, scoring five runs to take a 5-2 lead. The Camels quickly loaded the bases with singles by Bryant and
Rachel McCollum and a
Megan Mozingo walk to open the inning. Manring brought home two of the runners with a double through the left side.
Mozingo scored on the next play following a throwing error by East Carolina's catcher. With Manring on third, McCurry smacked a home run to left center field to give the Camels a two run lead.
East Carolina cut Campbell's lead to two runs at 5-3 in the fourth inning following three consecutive singles. Olivia Narron got on base via an infield single and scored two plays later off a single by Inae.
In the bottom of the fourth, McCurry hit her second long ball of the night, a three-run shot to left field, to bring the game to the final score of 8-3. The Asheville, N.C., native's 10th home run of the year also scored Mozingo and Manring, who reached base off a walk and double, respectively.
With her two homers on Tuesday, McCurry is now ranked fifth in the Big South in home runs behind Gardner-Webb's Katie Prebble (17), McCollum (13), Charleston Southern's Jade Gandara (11) and Mallory Kasinger (11), also of CSU. Campbell now has three ranked in the top-10 in the conference in homers, as
Caroline Smith follows in sixth with seven.
Megan Richards (11-7) picked up the win for Campbell, pitching a complete game, while allowing eight hits and three runs and striking out three. Richards struck out the final ECU batter to secure the Camel victory.
Erin Poepping (8-9) was charged with the loss after giving up six hits and five runs in the opening 0.2 innings. Whitney Sanford and Mary Williams combined to pitch the final 5.1 innings for East Carolina.
The Camels return to competition on Wednesday, hosting NC Central for a doubleheader with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium. For the latest information on Campbell softball, make sure to follow
@GoCamelsSB on Twitter.
