April 9, 2011

East Carolina Game 42: UCF
Date	Sunday, April 10
Time	12:00 p.m. ET
Location	Greenville, N.C. (ECU Softball Stadium)
Game Notes	East Carolina
Statistics	East Carolina | UCF
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Pirate Softball Central	Gameday Central | Roster  Interactive Guide Conference USA Softball | NCAA Softball

GREENVILLE, N.C. - After suffering a pair of one-run setbacks Saturday, East Carolina looks to win Sunday's 12:00 p.m. series finale with UCF. The Pirates (28-13, 8-6 C-USA) and Knights (15-22, 5-6 C-USA) played two extra-inning games Saturday and have gone additional frames six times in series history.

In The Top Three For Freshmen
So far this season, freshman Kristi Oshiro has drawn a Conference USA second-best 29 walks. The total is also approaching the East Carolina record for a true freshman. Only Christine Sheridan (2003/40) and Hillary Halpern (2000/36) have drawn more free passes than Oshiro during their initial collegiate campaigns.

Oshiro's base on balls during last Sunday's finale at Southern Miss gave her sole possession of third on the freshman record list with 26. One of the players Oshiro had been tied with is her head coach, Tracey Kee, who walked 25 times during the 1987 season.

The Hits Just Keep On Coming
Oshiro went 2-3 during Wednesday's game at UNC Wilmington to record her 13th multiple-hit contest of the year. Oshiro leads the Pirates in that category, two ahead of junior Suzanne Riggs.

Since the start of the 2009 season, only four Pirates have tallied more than 13 multiple-hit games in a year with Jessica Johnson's 16 in 2009 leading the way. Charina Sumner (15 in 2010) and Marina Gusman-Brown (14 in 2010) are the other Pirates to accomplish the feat.

Station To Station For The Foes
Southern Miss collected 11 hits during the three games against East Carolina last weekend, but none for extra bases. The trend continued Saturday as UCF totaled 14 singles during the two games.

Twenty times this season (48.8 percent of games), the Pirate pitching staff has held the opponent hitless or to just singles. In 11 other contests, foes have been limited to one extra-base hit.

Hadn't Done That In A While
UNC Wilmington trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday, but scored twice in the frame to win 2-1. Prior to the setback, East Carolina was 84-0 when leading after six innings.

Its last loss when ahead through six was March 31, 2007, in a home contest versus Tulsa. In that game, ECU also led 1-0 going into the seventh, but gave up a leadoff solo home run to Sara Dyer to tie the game at 1-1. The Golden Hurricane went on to win 3-1 in nine innings.

East Carolina And The RPI
With the most recent RPI release by the NCAA, through April 4 games, East Carolina checks in 29th. Tulsa at No. 20 is the only C-USA school ahead of the Pirates. The RPI ranks teams based on wins, losses and strength of schedule.

So far in 2011, the Pirates are 4-8 against teams in the top 50 of the RPI. ECU is 7-0 against teams ranked 51-100 and is 16-5 from 101 to the end of the rankings. The Pirates have captured a road triumph versus Maryland (RPI: 21), a home win against Memphis (RPI: 41) and two home victories over Tulsa (RPI: 20).

Stood There Like A House By The Side Of The Road
Senior Toni Paisley and junior Faith Sutton have combined to strike out 329 batters in 278.1 innings pitched this season. The duo has excelled at getting the called third strike, fanning a Conference USA-best 100 batters looking.