Softball Preview - Games 44-46: Memphis
April 19, 2013 | Softball
April 19, 2013
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina softball team continues its homestand with a three-game series against conference rival Memphis this weekend. The Pirates and Tigers are in fifth and sixth place in the C-USA standings entering the contests. Both teams won a league series last weekend with ECU sweeping Marshall on the road and Memphis taking two-of-three from UCF at home. The Pirates enter the weekend with an overall record of 18-25 (8-7 C-USA) and with a four-game league winning streak.
Live stats and video will be available for all three conference games. Live in-game updates for the contests can also be accessed through the ECU Softball Twitter feed (@ECUSoftball).
Scouting The Tigers
Memphis (21-29, 8-10 C-USA) won two-of-three games in conference play last weekend against UCF ... Before coming to Greenville, the Tigers played a pair of extra innings midweek contests this week with a 1-0 loss to Central Arkansas on Tuesday and a 2-1 victory over Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday ... Memphis has a marquee win over a ranked Hawai'i team on its resume this season ... Morgan Mosby has been the team's offensive leader with her .308 batting average, 49 hits, two home runs, 20 RBI, 403 slugging percentage and 64 total bases ... Lelani Bernardino sports a .291 batting average, 23 runs, 46 hits, eight doubles, four triples, 18 walks and 14 stolen bases ... Laura Curtis leads the team and conference with 13 doubles on her 33 hits ... Cierra Magnum has drawn 25 walks and recorded five doubles ... Ellen Roberts leads the pitching staff with her 12 wins, 2.86 ERA, 40 appearances, 29 games started, 20 complete games, 198 innings thrown and 162 strikeouts ... Jordan Richwood has totaled eight wins and 150 strikeouts in her 113 innings in the circle ... The head coach of the Tigers is Natalie Poole ... Poole is in her second year in charge of the program after three years at McNeese State ... She has an overall record of 353-365 in her 11 years as the head of collegiate programs ... She began her career working as the head coach at Georgia Southern for seven years ... Poole has led two different programs to NCAA Tournament berths (Georgia Southern - 2006 and McNeese State - 2010) during her time in the coaching ranks ... East Carolina leads the all-time series with Memphis 15-6 including a mark of 6-3 at home ... ECU has won three of the last four meetings between the schools, but lost in the 2012 regular season finale to the Tigers by a 5-3 score.
Career Numbers vs. Memphis
Senior Kai Clark has hit well against Memphis with a .280 career batting average (7-for-25) including a home run and four RBI ... Jasmine Robbins has also had success against the Tigers with a .300 batting average (3-for-10) with an RBI and two walks ... Kristi Oshiro has four career walks and runs scored against Memphis.
On This Date (The Weekend Edition)
ECU is only 13-19 all-time on the dates from April 20-21 ... The Pirates are 8-7 on April 20 and last took on UNCW on the date in 2011 ... ECU is 5-12 on April 21 and played against Southern Miss last season ... The two wins against USM last season on April 21, 2012 snapped a 12-game losing streak on the date that began during the 1989 season.
Last Time Out
The Pirates fell behind by a run in the first inning and were never able to regain control in a 8-0 loss to No. 25 North Carolina on Wednesday (4/17) ... Junior Alex Fieldhouse picked up the team's lone hit of the afternoon with a single in the fourth inning ... ECU was limited to three base runners in the game as junior Jill Jelnick was hit by a pitch and fellow junior Jordan Lewis drew a walk ... The loss to the Tar Heels dropped ECU's record to 34-51 all-time against North Carolina and was the ninth time the program has been shutout this season.
She Is Just Getting Started
Jordan Lewis has recorded four home runs and 10 RBI in her last four conference games (all wins for ECU) ... All four of her hits have been home runs ... Additionally, she has been walked seven times and scored nine runs.
It's A First
Prior to this year, the Pirates have never had a record of 8-7 after 15 games in league games since joining Conference USA in 2002 ... ECU has been 9-6 twice (2007 and 2011) and over .500 at this point seven times since joining the conference (10-5 in 2002, 12-3 in 2005, 9-6 in 2007, 11-4 in 2009, 10-5 in 2010, 9-6 in 2011 and 8-7 in 2013), but has never had an 8-7 record.
Home, Sweet Home
ECU has a 9-15 record in home games this season ... Junior Jordan Lewis has led the charge with her .359 batting average (23-for-64) ... She also has three home runs and 13 RBI ... Junior Kristi Oshiro is close behind with a .353 batting average (24-for-68), eight doubles and four triples ... Fellow junior Alex Fieldhouse has also stood out at home with her .343 batting average (23-for-67) with four home runs and 17 RBI ... Sophomore Sarah Christian has seven of the team's wins with a 3.41 ERA in 80.0 innings thrown ... ECU has a team batting average of .264 at home and a team ERA of 3.79.
The Rifle Woman
Freshman Meredith Mitchell, after throwing out a runner at home against Marshall (4/13), has already totaled six outfield assists this season including nailing four runners at the plate trying to score from center field ... Mitchell has also recorded an outfield assist in four straight series .. ECU outfielders have recorded 12 assists this season with juniors Jasmine Robbins and Jill Jelnick also recording multiple assists on the campaign.
Turning It Around
After a rough stretch of three starts in the middle of the season (0-3 record, 7.41 ERA in 11.1 innings pitched), sophomore Sarah Christian has really begun to settle down in her last 13 starts ... Despite the 7-5 overall record, she sports a 2.69 ERA and has fanned 42 in her 75.1 innings in the circle with 11 complete games.
On A Streak
After recording a walk against North Carolina (4/17), Jordan Lewis has reached base safely in 35 of the team's last 38 games ... Lewis, in that time, is hitting .362 (34-for-94) with an on-base percentage of .504 plus seven home runs and 24 RBI ... She also has reached base safely in each of her last 19 games, which is a career high.
Sneaky Fast
Jordan Lewis is 12-for-13 in stolen base attempts this season and has only been thrown out three times in 32 career attempts on the base paths.
Individual Conference Leaders
The Pirates, midway through the 11th week of softball action, have several players that are ranked highly in Conference USA ... Junior Kristi Oshiro is tied for the conference in triples (5) ... She is tied for second in doubles (11), third in runs scored (37), sixth in sacrifice bunts (7) and batting average (.361), tied for sixth in total bases (68) plus tied for seventh in walks (21, hits (44) on-base percentage (.466) ... She is eighth in slugging percentage (.557) and tied for 10th in hit by pitch (4) ... Junior Alex Fieldhouse is tied for the league lead in sacrifice flies (3) ... She is second in doubles (11), tied for second in RBI (39), third in total bases (78), fourth in slugging percentage (.612) plus tied for sixth in home runs (7) and triples (2) ... Junior Jordan Lewis is second in walks (27), third in slugging percentage (.613), fourth in on-base percentage (.482), tied for sixth in home runs (7) and triples (2), eighth in batting average (.351), tied for eighth in RBI (26), ninth in stolen bases (12) and tied for 10th in runs scored (23) ... Junior Jill Jelnick is tied for the league lead in sacrifice flies (3), tied for sixth in triples (2) and ninth in runs scored (25) ... Freshman Kelsi Briggs is tied for fifth in sacrifice flies (2) ... Sophomore Sarah Christian is fourth in innings pitched (155.0), games started (23) and wins (13) ... She is tied for fourth in appearances (33), tied for fifth in games in relief (10), eighth in strikeouts (94) and ninth in saves (1) ... Fellow sophomore Courtney Smith is tied for ninth in games started (16) and appearances (24)
Team Conference Leaders
ECU, as a team, lead the conference in triples (13) and sacrifice flies (13) ... The program is also third in doubles (51) and stolen bases (44) ... ECU is also fourth in total bases (445), runs scored (180), hits (293), runs batted in (154) plus fifth in batting average (.265), home runs (25) and slugging percentage (.403)
NCAA Leaders
Kristi Oshiro ranks among the NCAA leaders in several categories in the fifth release of statistics this week (4/15) ... Oshiro is 10th in triples (5.0), 15th in triples per game (0.12), 57th in toughest to strikeout (20.0), 95th in doubles per game (0.26), 97th in runs per game (0.88), 140th in on-base percentage (.473) ... Alex Fieldhouse also finds herself among the NCAA leaders in sacrifice flies (3.0 - 31st) ... She is also 80th in RBI per game (0.93), 95th in doubles per game (0.26) and 133rd in triples (2.0) ... Jordan Lewis is 85th in walks ((0.62), 112th in on-base percentage (.482) and 133rd nationally in triples (2.0) ... Jill Jelnick is 85th in toughest to strikeout (17.5) ... In the circle, Sarah Christian is 92nd in victories (13.0), 120th in walks per seven innings (2.17) and 131st in saves (1) .
Need To Keep Them Scoreless in the First
Against UTEP (3/29), the Pirates picked up their first win of the season when the opponent scores in the opening inning and are now 1-15 when that happens this year ... After the comeback win against UNCW (4/3), ECU is 2-20 when its opponent crosses home first ... East Carolina is 14-2 on the season though when holding opponents to two runs or less in any game and 11-4 when scoring in the first frame.
Up Next
East Carolina is on the road for the final time during the regular season and travel to Hattiesburg, Miss. to take on Southern Miss (11-35, 1-13 C-USA) next weekend ... ECU begin the trip with a 2 p.m. (ET) doubleheader on Saturday and complete the series with a 1 p.m. (ET) contest against the Golden Eagles on Sunday.
