ELON, N.C. – A pair of pitching gems from junior Kaitlin King along with freshman Taylor Cherry's perfect game capped off the Elon University softball team's final day at its home tournament, the Cardinal Invite, as the Phoenix swept Detroit Mercy, 8-0, and East Carolina, 1-0, in a doubleheader on Sunday, March 6, at Hunt Softball Park.
 
Cherry pitched the Phoenix's third known perfect game at the Division I era and the first for the Phoenix (13-6) since 2018 when Kiandra Mitchum last achieved the feat. King tossed the Phoenix's fifth shutout of the season and its third overall over Elon's five-game weekend.
 
Game One: Elon 8, Detroit Mercy 0 (5)
The Phoenix opened the scoring in its first game of the day in the home half of the second. Keagan Goldwait put Elon on the scoreboard on a one-out home run over the wall in left to give the Phoenix a 1-0 lead. Elon had two more runners reach and move into scoring position on a groundout before a single up the middle by Megan Grant plated two more runs to increase Elon's advantage to 3-0.
 
Both teams were quiet offensively in the next two frames, but the Phoenix got back on track in the bottom half of the fifth. Elon plated five runs in the frame behind RBI from Kaitlyn Wells, Bella Devesa, Allie Eith and Grant to close out the game with the 8-0 victory via run-rule.
 
Elon registered eight hits in the contest with Grant and Rebecca Murray accounting for half of that total with the pair each having two hits. Grant drove in a season-high three RBI while Devesa also had a season-best total in RBI with two while Goldwait added her second homer of the season.
 
Making her first start of the season, King (1-0) was able to recover from a shaky start in the first inning to add her first career shutout. The Parkland, Fla., native allowed four hits and struck out a pair in her complete-game effort in the circle.
 
Game Two: Elon 1, ECU 0
Facing an ECU team that ranked in the top-50 of the nation in batting average and doubles coming into the weekend, Cherry did not look like the freshman pitcher making her seventh career start on Sunday. The Suffolk, Va., native needed 86 pitches to retire all 21 batters she faced while carving up a career-best 10 strikeouts in the contest.
 
After Cherry retired the side in the top of the first in which she recorded two strikeouts, Elon gave her the only run support she would need in the contest in the bottom half. Drew Menscer reached on a one-out single and advanced to second on a single from Murray. A double steal moved both players into scoring position with Menscer crossing the dish on a sacrifice fly from Gabi Schaal to make it 1-0.
 
Elon nearly added more runs to the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. Back-to-back singles from Goldwait and Carley Davis gave Elon runners on with no outs with the runners moving into scoring position after a wild pitch. The Phoenix would leave two on base however as ECU induced the next three outs to escape the jam.
 
After Cherry struck out the entire side in the top of the third, Elon got another runner to reach scoring position in the home half of the frame. Grant singled to lead off the inning and eventually reached third with one out after a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. The Pirates' Madisyn Davis was able to finagle out of the jam by retiring the next two batters via pop ups.
 
The one run ended up being more than enough run support for Cherry, who improved to 3-2 overall with the perfect game. Cherry's performance overshadowed the pitching performance of Davis for ECU, who herself pitched a gem in her complete-game effort in which she allowed seven hits and struck out three.
 
On Deck
Elon is scheduled to host North Carolina Central in a midweek matchup on Wednesday, March 9 to conclude a 10-game homestand. That contest is set for a 5 p.m. start