Softball Takes On Canisius, Drexel Saturday
February 10, 2012 | Softball
Feb. 10, 2012
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| East Carolina Games 3-4: Canisius and Drexel Saturday, Feb. 11 | 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. ET Greenville, N.C. (ECU Softball Stadium) |
 Canisius Watch Live | Drexel Watch Live |  Canisius Gametracker | Drexel Gametracker |  Live Chat | Mobile Live Chat |
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina continues its opening weekend of action Saturday with a pair of games at the Pirate Classic. ECU starts the day with a 2:00 p.m. contest against Canisius before finishing with Drexel around 4:00 p.m.
Friday, the Pirates suffered a 3-1 setback to Virginia in the season opener before topping Canisius 12-4 in five innings during the nightcap.
The split Friday pushed ECU's record to 40-13 (.755) during the first day of action at home, going 23-6 (.793) under head coach Tracey Kee.
Pirates Taking On The Dragons
East Carolina and Drexel have met just twice, with the Pirates winning both games, 12-2 and 6-2. It will be the first trip to Greenville for the Dragons, as the initial contest took place in Charlottesville, Va., on April 1, 1989, and the second in Rock Hill, S.C., on March 28, 1993.
ECU Against The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference And Colonial Athletic Association
Following Friday's win over Canisius, the Pirates are now 27-4 in program history when facing a Metro Atlantic Athletic team. Heading into Saturday's clash with Drexel, East Carolina has posted a 167-30 record against Colonial Athletic Association clubs.
Five All-Conference USA Selections Return
The Pirates return five all-league honorees in 2012 as senior outfielder Suzanne Riggs and sophomore utility player Jill Jelnick were second-team picks. Jordan Lewis, Kristi Oshiro and Jasmine Robbins also joined Jelnick on the Conference USA All-Freshman Team.
East Carolina tied Louisville's 2004 squad for the most all-rookie selections in a season in league history.
In Friday's two games, the all-C-USA performers got off to a strong start as Riggs drive in a pair of runs and Jelnick tallied two RBI, one hit and one run scored. Lewis scratched out two hits and crossed home twice while Robbins recorded ECU's first hit and run scored of the season and finished the day with two hits and an RBI. Oshiro is one of three Pirates tied for the team lead with a .500 batting average after a three-for-six performance. She is also knotted at the top of the squad with three runs scored.
Reaching 40, Again
The Pirates ended the 2011 campaign with a 41-22 record, reaching the 40-win plateau for the third-straight season. East Carolina became the first C-USA program with three consecutive seasons of 40 wins or more since Houston from 2006-08 and only the fourth in league history (USF/2003-05; DePaul/2000-03).
East Carolina And The RPI
With the final 2011 RPI release by the NCAA, East Carolina finished 33rd, trailing only Houston (20) and Tulsa (27) among Conference USA programs. The RPI ranks teams based on wins, losses and strength of schedule.
Last season the Pirates went 13-15 against teams in the top 50 of the RPI after posting only six wins versus the top 50 in 2010.
A Sign Of Things To Come?
The Pirates claimed their second-straight C-USA Tournament title after losing seven seniors (six starters) from the 2010 squad. The 2011 unit consisted of 10 freshmen, two sophomores, three juniors and two seniors. Since the 2004 league championship, no title winner has had more than five freshmen.
The youthful success continued in the College Park Regional, as East Carolina's starting lineup for the final against Baylor consisted of eight freshmen. Since the NCAA Tournament went to the regional-super regional-Women's College World Series format in 2005, no other program had started more than five freshmen in a regional final contest. The Pirates lost to Baylor 1-0 as the Bears went on to advance to the Women's College World Series semifinals.
There is no sign of sophomore slumps so far. Following Friday's first two games of the year, ECU's second-year players have accounted for 93.8 percent of the team's hits (15-of-16), 84.6 percent of the squad's runs scored (11-of-13) and 72.7 percent of the Pirates' runs batted in (eight-of-11).
