GREENVILLE, N.C. – Coastal Carolina’s softball team (17-15) dropped both of its games on the opening day of the ECU Classic to #6 California (25-2), 2-1 and East Carolina (20-13) 4-0 on Friday, March 24 at ECU Softball Field.

The first inning of the first game began well against California as senior Kelly Feely’s (Livermore, Calif./Granada) one-out single put a runner on first. After a strikeout, junior Kristina Sheppard (Galveston, Texas/Ball) reached first on the fielding error by the Cal third baseman Katie Vickers moving Feely to second. A ground out to third by Coastal ended the potential rally though.

California took advantage of its opportunity by scoring a run in the first inning. Freshman Morgan Siegel singled up the middle and came into score on the one-out double to left field by Hayley Woods giving the Golden Bears the early 1-0 lead.

Coastal again put a runner into scoring position in the fourth inning. Sheppard reached second on the fielding error by the Cal right fielder Alex Sutton to lead off the frame, but she was stranded there as Cal’s righthanded starter Kristina Thorson fanned the next three in order.

The score remained the same until senior Meagen Johnson (Georgetown, S.C./Georgetown (Furman)) led off the sixth inning by blasting her sixth home run of the season, tying the game at one.

California took the lead for good with a run in the sixth, when Emily Friedman coaxed a two-out walk. A double into the left field corner from junior Alex Sutton brought Friedman home for the 2-1 lead and eventual victory.

Thorson (17-2) went the distance for the Golden Bears as she only gave up three hits and fanned nine. Christine Doyle (Rio Rico, Ariz./Immaculate Heart Academy (NJ)) (6-5) took the loss for the Lady Chants as she went 1.2 innings in relief and gave up a run with three strikeouts.

The Pirates jumped on the Lady Chants early with a run in the first inning of the second game. Sophomore Erin St. Ledger doubled with one-out, went to third on a wild pitch and scampered home on the Jessica Johnson single through the right side.

CCU threatened in the third inning as back to back one-out walks by junior Danyelle Gerdts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) and sophomore Ashley Gerdts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) put runners on first and second, but a ground out and fly out ended the rally.

ECU added two more runs to the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Senior Krista Jessup started the inning with a double to left center. Jessup went to third on a wild pitch and came in to score on the two-out single from junior Jessica Potter. Potter took second on the throw home and went to third on the throwing error by the CCU hurler as Paige Baggett reached first. Potter scored the second run of the frame on the run scoring single from senior Alison Monce.

East Carolina added another run to its lead in the fifth inning, as sophomore Erin St. Ledger went to third on the three-base error from the Coastal centerfielder and came in to score on the Jessup sacrifice fly.

CCU senior Sara Hostetler (Albuquerque, N.M./Valley) ) broke up the no-hit bid with her single over the third baseman’s head with one-out in the sixth inning. Feely followed with a single of her own to centerfield to put runners on first and second. A groundout moved each runner up a base. Sheppard then walked to load the bases, but the frame was ended as Keli Harrell struck out the Coastal pinch hitter swinging.

Doyle (6-6) started the second game and took the loss for CCU while Harrell (11-9) got the win for the Pirates.

The Lady Chants open the second day of the ECU Classic taking on Kent State (8-10) on Saturday morning, March 25 beginning at 9 a.m.