Morgan Johnson combined to go 7-for-8 at the plate with two home runs and five RBI over two games as East Carolina defeated Loyola Chicago, 10-5, before the Pirates handled Canisius, 8-0, in five innings behind a no-hitter from Taylor Apple in the circle to open the Pirate Invitational on Saturday night at Max R. Joyner Family Stadium.
MOJO HR #2 OF THE NIGHT! 🏴☠️#GoPirates #WeBelieve pic.twitter.com/29inLEBEhO
— East Carolina Softball (@ecu__softball) February 23, 2025
Game One: East Carolina 10, Loyola Chicago 5
Morgan Johnson went 4-for-4 with a home run and two RBI as East Carolina rallied past Loyola Chicago 10-5 in ECU’s first game of the Pirate Invitational on Saturday night.
Anna Sawyer was also perfect in the batter’s box, going 3-for-3, and Hailey Massaro had a career day with a career-high three RBI and her first career home run.
After both teams each scored a run in the first inning, the Pirates went ahead 3-1 in the bottom of the second with two unearned runs due to a Rambler error. Loyola quickly bounced back from its second inning mishap, scoring four runs in the top of the third to claim a 5-3 lead.
Massaro doubles out to left field bringing in 2 more runs for the Pirates!
Pirates lead 8-5 at the end of the 4th!#GoPirates #WeBelieve pic.twitter.com/6E42rRbMi0
— East Carolina Softball (@ecu__softball) February 23, 2025
Massaro hit a solo homer in the bottom of third to trim ECU’s run deficit to one and the Pirates’ offense exploded in the bottom of the fourth with four runs scored on a two-run bomb from Johnson and a two RBI double from Massaro to go in front 8-5.
GONE!🚀 https://t.co/bucM51H9PI pic.twitter.com/sHCgzSSSRY
— East Carolina Softball (@ecu__softball) February 23, 2025
ECU added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth and Apple got the Pirates out of a jam in the top of the seventh, striking out the final two Rambler batters with bases loaded to secure the victory for the Pirates.
Kendall Frost (4-3) picked up the win in the circle for ECU while Taylor Apple tossed seven strikeouts and earned the save. Andie Broniewicz (2-1) gave up six earned runs and nine hits in the loss.
Saturday nights at the Max!🏴☠️ pic.twitter.com/Qrx3VgSMOJ
— East Carolina Softball (@ecu__softball) February 23, 2025
Game Two: East Carolina 8, Canisius 0 (Five Innings)
Morgan Johnson continued her impressive night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with another home run and three RBI and Taylor Apple threw a no-hitter in the circle as East Carolina routed Canisius 8-0 in five innings to close out the first day of the Pirate Invitational.
Chloe Geijer got ECU on the board first with a solo shot to right field and Emma Jackson hit an RBI single to increase the Pirates’ lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the second. Johnson broke the game open with a three-run blast over the left field wall to give ECU a 5-0 cushion.
Kanisha Anderson hit an RBI triple and Jackson followed up with a sac fly to score Anderson to make the score 7-0 in the bottom of the third and Annie Kate Dalton sealed it with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to give ECU the run rule win.
Up Next
East Carolina (7-4) closes out the Pirate Invitational against Boston College at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
Check out Pirate Radio
Website | Facebook | X (formerly Twitter) | Instagram | YouTube