April 10, 2011
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By Sarah Tarasewicz
UCFAthletics.com
GREENVILLE, N.C. (UCFAthletics.com) - After picking up two wins Saturday, the UCF (15-23, 5-7 C-USA) softball team was not able to complete its Conference USA series sweep at East Carolina (29-13, 9-6 C-USA) Sunday afternoon, as the Knights dropped its series finale to the Pirates, 1-0, at the ECU Softball Complex despite outhitting the home team, 4-2.
Senior Diana Rojas (Miami, Fla.) impressed once again in the circle for the Black and Gold, as the only run given up in the contest was an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth inning on a fielder's choice and a UCF error. Rojas allowed only two hits to the Pirates, while striking out three and walking two, but was still tagged with the loss in the circle to fall to 6-8 on the year.
Despite the loss, Rojas improved her ERA to a team-low 2.86 overall, as she did not give up an earned run in 17.0 innings pitched during the series. On the weekend, the hurler held the Pirates to a .094 batting average and struck out nine batters.
The top of the Knights' lineup accounted for all four hits in the contest, with Allie Jest (Stone Mountain, Ga.), Tawny Swan (Gilbert, Ariz.), Natalie Land (Mayo, Fla.) and Kellie Todd (Ocala, Fla.) each posting singles for the Black and Gold. Land and Vanessa Perez (San Diego, Calif.) each had sacrifice hits in the loss, but UCF was not able to capitalize on early opportunities as it stranded six runners on base.
UCF had chances to score in the first, second and sixth innings, but the Pirates' defense managed to fight its way out of the jams. The Knights put two runners on with one out in the top of the first, but a double play ended the frame.
In the second, the Black and Gold put two runners in scoring position, but a two-out strikeout by ECU starter Toni Paisley ended the visitor's threat. It wasn't until the sixth inning that UCF was able to put another runner in scoring position, but Paisley worked her way out of the jam yet again in the frame with back-to-back strikeouts.
The Knights return to action Wednesday as they are set to travel to Daytona Beach for a match-up with Bethune-Cookman at 4 p.m.