The East Carolina softball team opened the Pirate Classic on Friday by defeating Virginia 3-0 before falling to St. John's 6-5 in nine innings at the ECU Softball Stadium.

Senior pitcher Toni Paisley threw a shutout in Game 1 and broke the ECU and Conference USA career strikeout records in Game 2. Paisley's 949 career strikeouts pushed her past 2007 teammate and former coach Keli Harrell's 948 for the all-time marks.

Michelle Tilson, after being placed on second base to start the bottom of the ninth inning for St. John's, moved to third on Chelsea Durning's groundout to shortstop. Fachon Jones then singled off Paisley to bring Tilson home for the game-winning run.

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