Softball Earns Fifth Seed At C-USA Tournament
May 06, 2008 | Softball
May 6, 2008
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2008 Conference USA Softball Tournament Bracket
IRVING, Texas - The East Carolina softball team will make its way to Houston this week for the 2008 Conference USA Softball Championship as the fifth seed, its second such seed in three seasons. The Pirates make their fifth consecutive appearance in the event, marking the sixth time they have qualified for the tournament in their seven seasons as a member of the league. Fourth-seeded Marshall serves as ECU's quarterfinal opponent as the Herd defeated the Pirates in a doubleheader, 6-3 and 5-3, earlier this season at the ECU Softball Field. The Pirates have never faced Marshall in the postseason.
In its five prior appearances in the league tourney, ECU has earned the six seed twice (2002 and 2004), the five seed (2006), the three seed (2005) and the second seed (2007). The Pirates earned their first-ever appearance in the championship game last season, defeating Memphis and UCF twice before falling to top-seeded Houston in a 1-0 heartbreaker. In all, ECU holds a record of 4-10 in the postseason event.
The championship takes place May 8-10 at the Cougar Softball Stadium in Houston, Texas. The tournament is single-elimination and the champion earns C-USA's automatic berth into the NCAA Softball Championship. Houston clinched its second consecutive regular season title last weekend and will enter the championship as the No. 1 seed.
Play begins at 9:00 a.m. CT on Thursday with No. 8 UAB taking on No. 9 Memphis. The Blazers are coming off a series with East Carolina that saw them drop two of three games to slip to the eighth position. No. 2 UCF takes on No. 7 Southern Miss in the 12:00 p.m. game while No. 3 Tulsa will battle No. 6 UTEP at 2:30 p.m. The host Cougars will then face the winner of game one between UAB and Memphis in the first evening contest at 5:30 p.m. before the day closes with Marshall facing East Carolina. The Pirates are one of four C-USA teams that surpassed the 30-win plateau this season and have the third-most overall wins with 35.
Semifinal action begins at 2:00 p.m. on Friday with the C-USA Softball Championship Game scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The title contest will be televised by CBS College Sports (formerly CSTV).
