LYNCHBURG, Va. – A three-RBI day from East Carolina third baseman Chandley Garner and a two-way performance from outfielder and pitcher Logyn Estes continued a strong start to the 2021 season for the Pirates, who downed Longwood 9-2 for their fourth consecutive win.
 
On the opening day of the Liberty Softball Classic at Kamphuis Field, East Carolina (9-2) hit a pair of home runs and tagged 10 hits to back a 5.0-inning, 10-strikeout start from Erin Poepping to extend an early-season surge that has seen them string together their second four-game win streak of the season.
 
East Carolina's homers came off the bats of Garner and Estes, with Estes launching the first in the bottom of the third and Garner tagging the second in the fifth, a two-run shot that was her team-leading third of the season. Those bombs came as part of a multi-headed offensive outburst that saw four different Pirates drive in runs against a Longwood pitching staff that used four different arms.
 
"No easy way to take a tough loss," said Longwood's first-year head coach Dr. Megan Brown. "We have lessons to learn and adjustments to make as we move forward."
 
Both of Longwood's runs on the day came on one swing of the bat from junior slugger Sydney Jacobsen, who homered for a second straight game with a two-run blast in the top of the third. That shot cut East Carolina's early lead to 3-2, but the Pirates responded in their next turn at the plate with a solo shot from Estes.
 
Longwood managed to put seven more runners on base the rest of the way, but Poepping and Estes limited the damage and blanked the Lancers over the final four frames.
 
Poepping (3-1) finished with 10 strikeouts before giving the ball to Estes, who moved from left field to the circle in the top of the sixth. The second-year freshman followed by scattering two hits over her two innings of work, working out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the sixth by retiring Longwood's No. 3 and 4 hitters, Jacobsen and Wayland, to end the threat.
 
Along with Jacobsen's homer, Lancers Nia Green and Kasey Carr both doubled, while leadoff batter Mason Basdikis stole her team-leading fourth base of the year.
 
The game is the first of five for Longwood at this weekend's three-day tournament. The Lancers will face both East Carolina and Liberty in back-to-back doublheaders Saturday and Sunday.
 
#GoWood