May 13, 2011

East Carolina Game 59: Tulsa
Date	Saturday, May 14
Time	11:00 a.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 | Tulsa
Statistics	East Carolina | Tulsa
Internet Coverage	Gametracker | 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. -For the second-straight season, East Carolina will play for the Conference USA Tournament championship. The Pirates (38-20) take on regular season co-champion and No. 2 seed Tulsa (43-12) at 11:00 a.m. Saturday. Fifth-seeded ECU defeated No. 4 Memphis 5-1 and top-seed Houston 1-0 to advance to the title game.

East Carolina, winner of five-straight Conference USA Tournament contests, joins Houston in 2007 and 2008 as the only teams to make repeat appearances in the championship game since the league realigned in 2006. The Pirates would also be the lowest seed to ever win the tournament.

A year ago, ECU won the program's first C-USA Tournament championship by defeating Southern Miss 8-0, the host Cougars 4-0 and UCF 3-1. Toni Paisley was named the event's most valuable player after going 3-0 and striking out 20. In addition to the 2010 crown, the Pirates faced Houston for the league championship in 2007 in Orlando, Fla., losing 1-0 on an unearned run in the first.

The Pirates Against The Golden Hurricane
East Carolina and Tulsa are tied at 8-8 in the all-time series that began in 2006 when the Golden Hurricane joined Conference USA. The Pirates have won five of the last seven meetings and outscored TU 25-13 during the span. The teams, however, did not face each other in 2010 as the series at Tulsa was canceled due to snow.

Earlier this season in Greenville, ECU won two of three against the Golden Hurricane, which entered the series tied for first in the C-USA standings. Paisley struck out a career-high 16 in the opener as the Pirates claimed a 1-0 victory in 10 innings. Sophomore Kai Clark drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th for the win. After falling 5-3 in the second contest, East Carolina took the Sunday finale 10-1 in five innings. Clark drove in three runs and senior Sissy Jimenez scored three times and had three RBI to back Paisley's nine-strikeout performance.

During the 2009 series, also in Greenville, the Pirates won 3-1 and 2-1 Saturday before falling 2-1 Sunday. Paisley struck out 12 in the opener and drove in a run. Jessica Johnson powered the ECU offense with a home run and RBI single. In the second contest, Cristen Aona had the game-deciding hit, singling through the left side of the infield in the bottom of the first to deliver a pair of unearned runs. In the finale, Jordan Kinard picked up the win for the Golden Hurricane as she allowed just two hits and a run via a Johnson solo homer in the bottom of the seventh inning. Paisley took the loss, giving up four hits and a two-run home run to Lauren Menke in the top of the sixth.

ECU And TU In The C-USA Tournament
Paisley and Aimee Creger have been the top two pitchers in the C-USA Championship while Tulsa also boosts the event's best offense. A closer look at the two programs' tournament stats:

Offense

Pitching

Paisley Breaks Own Strikeout Mark
Friday in the semifinal game against Houston, Paisley broke her own ECU single-season strikeout record with the 357th whiff of the year. In 2010, Paisley tallied 356 strikeouts in 277.0 innings and has 357 in 278.1 frames this season. With runners on first and second and two outs in the sixth inning against the Cougars, Paisley retired Haley Outon swinging to keep the shutout intact and record the record-breaking strikeout.

Up To 21st In NCAA Division I History
Paisley's 357 strikeouts this season have pushed her career total to 1,251. She is now alone in 21st place on the NCAA Division I all-time whiff list. She trails Kent State's Kylie Reynolds (2007-10) by seven for 20th.

... And Moving Up The Career Wins Ladder
Paisley's win Friday against Houston was the 115th of her career, moving her into a tie for 24th on the NCAA Division I record chart. Entering the championship game, Paisley's career record is 115-37, which is a .757 winning percentage.

Fieldhouse's Big Blast
After seeing her batting average drop from .300 March 6 to .216 heading into the Conference USA Championship, freshman Alex Fieldhouse has found her hitting stroke again in the last two games. She has gone 3-6 and hit ECU's first home run since April 17 with a solo shot in the bottom of the second against Houston on Friday that provided the contest's only run.