East Carolina Takes On SIUE, Alabama Again Saturday
February 24, 2012 | Softball
Feb. 24, 2012
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| East Carolina Games 11-12: SIU Edwardsville and No. 2 Alabama Saturday, Feb. 25 | 12:00 and 2:30 p.m. ET Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Rhoads Stadium) |
 Alabama Watch Live (Tide TV subscription required) | |  Alabama Listen Live (Free WVUA-FM radio broadcast) |  SIU Edwardsville Gametracker | Alabama Gametracker |  Live Chat | Mobile Live Chat |
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - Coming off Friday's split, East Carolina (6-4) will play the same two teams Saturday afternoon, taking on SIU Edwardsville (5-5) at 12:00 p.m. and host Alabama (10-0) at 2:30 p.m.
In Friday's contests, the Pirates defeated SIU Edwardsville 6-5 in 10 innings and fell to the No. 2 Crimson Tide 4-2. Sophomores Kristi Oshiro and Alex Fieldhouse both picked up two hits to lead the offense while senior Suzanne Riggs and sophomore Jordan Lewis drove in two runs each. In the circle, freshman Sarah Christian earned the victory over the Cougars and allowed four earned runs in the two games while classmate Courtney Smith threw five frames and recorded the save versus SIUE.
An All-Around Offensive Threat
During the second half of her freshman campaign, sophomore Jasmine Robbins posted ECU's second-best batting average (.300) to go along with the highest on-base percentage (.430). She has carried the hot streak into this season as she paces the Pirates with nine hits and a pair of doubles while standing third in runs batted in with six and fourth in slugging percentage with a .438 mark.
Through her first 10 games started last year, she had registered just four hits and three RBI.
Lee Behind The Plate Means Wins
Sophomore Rebecca Lee has started five games at catcher this season and ECU has won all five. In the last two years when Lee has received the starting nod behind the dish, the Pirates have gone 16-4, good for an .800 winning percentage.
Offensively, Lee has started this season strong, leading Conference USA with seven stolen bases coming into this weekend. She is also fourth on the Pirates in on-base percentage at .429 and the team leader in walks with seven.
Two-Out Magic On Display Again
East Carolina has scored 43 runs this season with 22 crossing home when there are two outs. Monday in the contest against Hofstra, all four of the Pirates' runs were scored with two down.
As a team this season, ECU owns a .269 batting average (25-of-93) and has driven in 18 runs when there were two down. A year ago, the Pirates hit .214 and tallied 87 RBI with two outs.
And Shutting Down Opponents
While the Pirates have enjoyed scoring runs with two outs, opponents have not been nearly as successful. Foes have combined to hit .195 (17-of-87) and register only three RBI.
Three Runs And A Win
East Carolina has scored three or more runs in five games this season and won all five contests. The trend is nothing new for the program, as scoring three runs has seemed like a near guaranteed victory the last four years. Since the start of the 2009 campaign, the Pirates have gone 97-13 (.882 winning percentage) when pushing across three or more runs.
Loving Those Middle Innings
The Pirates have scored 43 runs this season with 17 coming in the fourth (nine runs) and fifth (eight runs) innings. In 2011, the Pirates scored the second and third-most runs in the fourth (35 runs) and fifth (36 runs). Two seasons ago, the story was the same as the fourth (38 runs) and fifth (45 runs) frames were the second and third-highest scoring for East Carolina.
The sixth inning has also been good to ECU this season as the team has scored eight runs that frame. Pirate batters have liked that inning the best, posting a .314 batting average during the sixth.
