May 19, 2010

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Austin Regional Central

AUSTIN, Texas - The Conference USA regular season and tournament champion East Carolina softball team makes its third overall NCAA Tournament appearance, and second in the past three seasons, this week in Austin, Texas. The Pirates (42-16) open play with Mountain West champion BYU (43-11) Thursday at 6:00 p.m. ET. The host Longhorns (42-13), who earned the No. 7 national seed, take on Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Iona (28-24) at 8:30 ET in Thursday's second contest.

Texas is offering free live video of each game at the regional. East Carolina's Thursday game against BYU can be viewed by clicking here, or at the Live Video link at the top of the page.

ECU earned an NCAA Tournament bid in 1999, falling to host Arizona 9-1 and Southeast Missouri State 2-1. The Pirates returned in 2008, defeating Mississippi Valley State 4-2 and losing to Louisiana-Lafayette 2-1 and host LSU 9-1.

Last weekend at the Conference USA Tournament, the No. 1 Pirates defeated Southern Miss, Houston and UCF to win the event for the first time. ECU downed the eighth-seeded Golden Eagles 8-0 in five innings in the opening round, the No. 4 seed Cougars 4-0 in the semifinals and the No. 3 seed Knights 3-1 in the championship game to earn C-USA's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

The Pirates Against The Cougars ...
BYU won the only meeting between the two teams, a 7-6 triumph at the Stanford Invitational II March 21, 2008. East Carolina scored six unearned runs in the top of the fifth to take 6-4 advantage, but the Cougars scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and won on a Caschjen Davis walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the seventh.

Current seniors Vanessa Moreno, Cristen Aona, and Charina Sumner each had one hit for the Pirates' only three of the contest. In the six-run fifth inning, Moreno started the frame with a double to right center. Aona later hit a bases-loaded triple and scored on a wild pitch. Brooke Swann pitched the first five innings before Britt Howell came in for the final inning-plus, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk.

The Cougars' Daniela Snow went 3-4 with three runs batted in and Stephanie Platt-Hopkins chipped in with two RBI. Paige Affleck threw the first four innings before Christie Zinanti and Christina Gwyn-Trice came in for the final three frames. Each pitcher surrendered just one hit.

The Pirates Against The NCAA Tournament Field ...
The season, East Carolina played 10 teams that qualified for the 2010 NCAA Tournament, going 8-11 against them. The Pirates dropped three one-run decisions to No. 4 national seed Florida and a 3-0 game to No. 8 national seed Georgia Tech. East Carolina also faced No. 3 national seed Washington and lost 6-0 and No. 16 national seed Hawai'i, falling 10-0 and 6-4. After dropping the pair of games to the Rainbow Wahine March 6-7, ECU went 8-3 against post-season participants Fresno State, UC Davis, UCF, UAB and Elon.

ECU Versus The Mountain West, Big 12 And MAAC ...
In program history, the Pirates are 2-4 against the Big 12, including a 3-1 loss to Kansas earlier this season, 17-3 against the MAAC and 0-1 against the Mountain West as BYU is the only team ECU has faced from that league.

Program Firsts In Conference USA ...
East Carolina captured its first Conference USA regular season and tournament titles in 2010. The Pirates had finished second in the C-USA regular season twice, in 2007 and 2009, and had been the tournament runners-up once, in 2007. It was the first regular season title for the ECU program since winning three consecutive Big South championships from 1997-99. The tournament crown was also its first since the 1999 Big South post-season title.

Sharing The Winners ...
The Pirates have been a very balanced team this season with run production coming from every player in the lineup. Of ECU's 14 players on the roster, 12 have driven in the game-winning run at least once this year. Senior left fielder Marina Gusman-Brown leads the way with five game winners while four players are tied for second with four.