ECU 3, Sacred Heart 0
Backed by a complete-game shutout in the circle by Whitney Sanford, the ECU softball team opened the George Mason Invitational with a 3-0 victory over Northeast Conference preseason favorite Sacred Heart on a windy Friday afternoon at the George Mason Softball Complex. Sanford needed just 99 pitches in the complete-game effort, scattering seven hits and striking out four batters while issuing one walk. The solo shutout marked the second of her career and the first since a 3-0 ECU win over Saint Jospeh's on Feb. 16, 2018. Faith Jarvis and Ashleigh Inae recorded a hit each to lead the ECU offensive charge.
Minnesota 3, USF 0; USF 4, Butler 1
USF fell to No. 21 Minnesota 3-0, but took down Butler 4-1 in the USF-Michele Smith Pediatric Cancer Invitational on Friday afternoon. Against Minnesota, USF was held to just two hits, by Bethaney Keen and AnaMarie Bruni. With her hit, Bruni preserved her hitting streak and improved to 12-straight games with at least one hit. Nicole Doyle recorded the loss. She pitched 6.2 innings and didn't walk a single batter in the loss.
Against Butler, Cheyenne Eggens and Doyle held the Bulldogs to zero through seven innings. Eggens earned the win and improved to 4-1 after tossing 5.1 innings with three strikeouts and one walk. Doyle earned her first save of the season in 1.2 innings with three strikeouts and two hits. Lindsey Devitt and AnaMarie Bruni each went 2-for-3 against the Bulldogs, with Macy Cook's two RBI against Butler marking her fifth multi-RBI game this season.
North Alabama 6, Memphis 3; Murray State 8, Memphis 0
Memphis opened the Tiger Classic Friday afternoon with a pair of setbacks to North Alabama and Murray State. The Lions stole game one away from the Tigers by a 2-1 margin before the Racers defeated Memphis by a 6-3 score.
Gracie Morton hit her first collegiate triple against the Lions and scored on a bunt single by Baylee Smith. Karli Perque went the distance in game one and struck out a career-high eight batters. Delaney Smith led Memphis against the Racers with three hits, while the Tigers scattered 10 hits in game two compared to just two against UNA.
Chattanooga 3, Wichita State 2; North Dakota State 6, Wichita State 4
Wichita State lost its first two games on the first day of the USF Spring Invitational, losing 3-2 to UT-Chattanooga and 6-4 to North Dakota State on Friday. Sydney McKinney and Madison Perrigan led the way offensively for the Shockers, each coming up with three combined hits in the two games. McKinney tied her career high of two hits against North Dakota State, last obtaining that mark against Virginia Tech on Feb. 8. Wylie Glover came up with a hit in her 10th straight game against Chattanooga before seeing the hitting streak end against North Dakota State.
UConn 8, South Dakota 0
UConn is back in the win column after routing South Dakota in an 8-0 run-rule victory on the first day of the Mercer Bears Classic. Ashlee Dahman had a pair of hits and two RBI, while Marybeth Olson got the win in the circle after allowing four hits and striking out five batters.
Tulsa 11, Kansas 5
Tulsa scored eight runs on seven hits in the top of the seventh to blow open a close game on its way to an 11-5 win over Kansas on Friday in the first game of the Rock Chalk Challenge. Julia Hollingsworth and Morgan Neal each had three hits for the Golden Hurricane, while Samantha Pochop earned the win with just three hits and a run allowed to go along with five strikeouts in 4.2 innings. Neal, Haley Meinen and Mikayla Whitten drove in two runs apiece and freshman Celyna Shaw came off the bench to hit a three-run homer, the first round-tripper of her career.