GREENVILLE, NC – Anna Sawyer hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift East Carolina past North Texas 4-2 in extra innings in the quarterfinals of the American Conference Softball Championship on Thursday evening at Joyner Family Softball Stadium.
 
The Pirates (33-24) advance to face No. 2 seed Wichita State in the semifinals on Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
 
A scoreless first inning was followed by an hour and eight-minute rain delay. After play resumed, East Carolina loaded the bases on a single from Kanisha Anderson and two walks. Lillian Martineau then drew a walk to bring home the game’s first run.
 
The score remained 1-0 until the top of the seventh inning when North Texas rallied. A leadoff single from Taylor Platt ignited the Mean Green offense before Ariah Mitchell delivered an RBI single up the middle to tie the game. Madison Conley followed with an RBI double to right-center field to give North Texas a 2-1 lead.
 
East Carolina answered in the bottom half of the inning. After a leadoff walk put the tying run on base, Sawyer lined an RBI double to left-center field to even the score at 2-2.
 
The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth inning. Chloe Geijer opened the frame with a single to left field before Sawyer launched a two-run home run to secure the 4-2 walk-off victory for the Pirates.
 
Julia Apostolakos started in the circle for East Carolina, pitching 7.1 innings while allowing two runs on seven hits and striking out eight batters. Sydney Rainford (8-9) earned the win after tossing 1.2 scoreless innings in relief.
 
Anneca Anderson (12-9) took the loss for North Texas pitching 8.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits while striking out eight batters.
 
2026 AMERICAN SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Joyner Family Softball Stadium | Greenville, North Carolina
 
Wednesday, May 6 | First and Second Round
Game 1: No. 8 Tulsa 2, No. 9 UAB 1 | Box Score

Game 2: No. 7 UTSA 8, No. 10 Memphis 6 | Box Score

Game 3: No. 5 Charlotte 2, No. 8 Tulsa 0 | Box Score

Game 4: No. 6 North Texas 7, No. 7 UTSA 6 | Box Score
Thursday, May 7 | Quarterfinals
Game 5: No. 4 Florida Atlantic 5, No. 5 Charlotte 4 | Box Score

Game 6: No. 3 East Carolina 4, No. 6 North Texas 2 | Box Score
Friday, May 8 | Semifinals
Game 7: No. 1 South Florida vs No. 4 Florida Atlantic | 1 p.m. | ESPN+
Live Stats

Game 8: No. 2 Wichita State vs No. 3 East Carolina | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Live Stats
Saturday, May 9 | Championship
Game 9: Game 7 Winner vs Game 8 Winner | 12 p.m. | ESPN2
Live Stats