May 12, 2011

East Carolina Game 58: Houston
Date	Friday, May 13
Time	4:30 p.m. ET
Location	Greenville, N.C. (ECU Softball Stadium)
Tickets	Purchase C-USA Championship Tickets
Championship Information	C-USA Championship Central
Game Notes	East Carolina | Houston
Statistics	East Carolina | Houston
Internet Coverage	Gametracker |  Watch Live | Live Chat
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 continues action in the Conference USA Championship with a 4:30 p.m. semifinal contest against Houston. The Pirates (37-20) defeated Memphis 5-1 while the top-seeded Cougars (40-15) downed Southern Miss 4-2 Thursday to advance.

It marks the second-straight season East Carolina and Houston have faced off in the C-USA Championship semifinals. This matchup is a reversal of the 2010 tournament contest, when the top-ranked Pirates played at No. 5 seed Houston.

East Carolina Versus Houston
Houston holds a 22-12 advantage in the all-time series, but ECU is 9-9 against the Cougars in Greenville. After dropping four of seven to the Pirates, Houston responded with a three-game series sweep in Greenville two weeks ago. The 22 losses represent the most East Carolina has suffered against any C-USA squad.

Two weeks ago, Houston handed ECU its first home C-USA series sweep since 2006, claiming 1-0, 8-0 and 5-3 victories. The Pirates lost the opener as a wild pitch by senior Toni Paisley in the sixth inning brought in the game's only run. During the second contest, Reina Gaber and Haley Outon each had three RBI to lead the Cougars. Houston pitchers Donna Bourgeois and Diedre Outon each allowed just a first-inning single in the Saturday contests. The Sunday finale had East Carolina take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth when freshman Kristi Oshiro drove in a pair with a two-out single, but an unearned run in the fifth and solo home runs by Melissa Gregson and Jennifer Klinkert in the top of the 10th gave Houston the comeback win.

Catch Us If You Can
When falling behind this season, opponents have had a very hard time coming back on the Pirates. East Carolina has a 35-4 record when scoring first and is 29-3 when leading after four innings, 28-1 when ahead after five frames and 26-1 when leading after six.

ECU's only loss when ahead after five innings was a 2-1 setback at UNC Wilmington April 6, when the Seahawks won on a two-run walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh.

Two-Out Magic
Of East Carolina's 214 runs this season, 100 have scored when there are two outs, or 46.7 percent of the team's total. Thursday against Memphis, four of ECU's five runs came with two down.

Leading the way for the Pirates in two-out runs batted in is junior Suzanne Riggs, who has plated 12 runs in that situation.

Among The Nation's Best
With the release of the most recent NCAA Division I softball statistics, through May 1 games Paisley was ranked among the top 20 in Division I in solo shutouts (3rd/14), total strikeouts (5th/344), victories (7th/27), earned run average (8th/1.11), hits allowed per seven innings (14th/4.11) and walks allowed per seven innings (17th/1.22).

Paisley also stands in the top 25 in strikeouts per seven innings (23rd/9.1).

Paisley and junior Faith Sutton have combined to post the 11th-best earned run average among Division I programs at 1.57.