March 3, 2011

East Carolina Games 17-18: New Mexico State and Arizona State
Date	Friday, March 4
Times	3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. ET
Location	Tempe, Ariz. (Alberta B. Farrington Stadium)
Game Notes	East Carolina
Statistics	East Carolina | New Mexico State | Arizona State
Internet Coverage	New Mexico State Gametracker Arizona State Gametracker Live Chat |  Weekend Preview | Riggs Feature Story
Mobile Connect	Live Chat for Mobile Devices
Pirate Softball Central	Gameday Central | Roster  Interactive Guide Conference USA Softball | NCAA Softball

GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina returns to the road for the first time since the opening weekend as it makes a trip to Tempe, Ariz., and Arizona State University for the Wilson/DeMarini Invitational. The Pirates (12-4) begin the event Friday with a 3:00 p.m. ET contest against New Mexico State (14-3) before taking on the host and ninth ranked Sun Devils (12-1) at approximately 7:30 p.m. Saturday, ECU faces Creighton (6-4) and Northern Iowa (7-3) at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., respectively, before finishing the event Sunday with an 11:00 a.m. game versus Northern Colorado (1-8).

It will be a weekend of firsts for the Pirates as they have never faced any of their opponents. All time against conference members of the foes, ECU is 1-4 versus Pac-10 clubs, 3-4 facing Missouri Valley squads, 2-6 taking on Western Athletic Conference teams and 2-0 against Pacific Coast Softball Conference units.

Last Friday through Sunday at the Pirate Clash, East Carolina rolled to a 4-0 record, shutting out its last three opponents and outscoring them 29-5 during the four games. Four starters hit .500 or better for ECU with freshman Jordan Lewis’ .571 mark, eight hits and seven RBI leading the way. Senior Toni Paisley went 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA while junior Faith Sutton shut out Fairfield Saturday afternoon.

About The Aggies
New Mexico State heads into the Wilson/DeMarini Invitational with a 14-3 record. The team dropped a pair of games to No. 6 Oklahoma and suffered a 6-5 setback to Texas State last weekend. Last year, the Aggies were 27-28 with a 7-14 mark in Western Athletic Conference games.

So far this season, New Mexico State leads the WAC with a .353 team batting average and .575 slugging percentage. Senior outfielder Kandis Jones leads the team and conference with a .509 average, 29 hits and 25 runs scored. Senior infielder Hoku Nohara paces the WAC with 29 RBI. In the circle, reigning league pitcher-of-the-week sophomore Alex Newman is 8-0 with a 2.14 ERA.

Arizona State At A Glance
The Sun Devils represent East Carolina’s second ranked foe of the season as the invitational hosts check in at No. 9 this week. In 2010, ASU finished 44-17 and made its fifth-straight NCAA Super Regional appearance, where it fell twice at No. 4 Florida.

On offense, the Sun Devils are led by junior infielder and All-America selection Katelyn Boyd’s .529 batting average, 23 runs scored, six home runs and 1.176 slugging percentage. Junior infielder Annie Lockwood paces ASU with 17 RBI. In the circle, freshman Dallas Escobedo is 7-0 with a 1.34 ERA. Junior Hillary Bach has posted a 3-0 record and a 1.85 earned run average while redshirt freshman Mackenzie Popescue is 2-1 with a 2.14 ERA.

ECU In First-Time Meetings
It will be a weekend of firsts for the Pirates as they have never faced any of their five weekend opponents. Since 2006, East Carolina has gone 18-12 when facing a team for the first time. So far this season, East Carolina is 1-1 in such matchups after defeating Lipscomb 1-0 and falling to Illinois State 8-0 on Feb. 11.

A year ago, ECU went 4-5 in initial meetings. The Pirates defeated Cal State Fullerton 2-0 and UC Davis 4-0 at the Cal Round Robin in Berkeley, Calif., Seattle 9-0 at the Bank of Hawai’i Invitational Tournament in Honolulu and Morehead State 6-3 at the Pirate Classic. On the other hand, ECU fell to No. 3 Florida 4-3, Kansas 3-1, No. 1 Washington 6-0, Hawai’i 10-0 and Fresno State 1-0.

Eight Games, Eight Wins
The Pirates ended their homestand on an eight-game winning streak. It is ECU’s sixth streak of eight victories or more since the start of the 2009 campaign.

Off To A Strong Start
East Carolina heads into this weekend’s action with a 12-4 record. The mark ties the 2008 team for the Pirates’ second-best start in the last 10 seasons. The only squad that had a better mark through the first 16 games was the 2005 unit that went 14-2.

Paisley Reaches 1,000
Already the Conference USA and East Carolina career record holder in strikeouts, Paisley became the first player in league or school history to reach the 1,000-whiff mark Sunday.

After striking out the last two batters in the top of the first versus Campbell, Paisley recorded strikeout No. 1,000 in the top of the second, fanning the inning’s leadoff batter, Taylor McGee. Paisley now has 1,005 whiffs in her career.

Paisley Climbs The Wins Charts
In addition to recording her 1,000th strikeout Sunday, Paisley notched the 96th win of her career. The Lakewood, Calif., native now stands second on the C-USA and East Carolina all-time victory lists. Paisley trails DePaul’s Lindsay Chouinard (2000-03/108) by 12 for the all-time league record and Jenny Parsons (1990- 93/102) by six for the ECU career mark.

Lewis’ Big Bat
Lewis started her career with a .118 batting average after a 2-17 performance during the first six games of the season. Since then, she has been on a tear. In the last 10 games, Lewis has posted a .500 average with a team-best 14 hits. She also stands second on the squad during that span with 10 runs scored, nine RBI and a .679 slugging percentage.

The freshman hit her first career home run against Towson and drove in a personal-best four runs during the contest, including the game-winner in the bottom of the sixth with a double to left. Lewis added another game-winning RBI Saturday against Lehigh.

A Streak Of Eight
Lewis also is riding an eight-game hitting streak. It is the longest run by an ECU player this season, surpassing junior Priscilla Velasquez’s seven-game streak.

Since the start of the 2005 campaign, the Pirate players have produced only seven hitting streaks longer than eight games. Paige Baggett (2006) and Krista Jessup (2005) own the longest strings during that span at 11 games each.