Gameday: Softball Kicks Off 2017 Campaign At Red And Black Showcase

Games 1-5: Red and Black Showcase
Tournament Dates	Feb. 10-12
Tournament Schedule	Feb. 10 vs. Syracuse \\\ 10:00 a.m. \\\ Live Stats Feb. 10 vs. Winthrop \\\ 12:30 p.m. \\\ Live Stats Feb. 11 vs. Winthrop \\\ 10:00 a.m. \\\ Live Stats Feb. 11 at No. 10/12 Georgia \\\ 12:30 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Live Video Feb. 12 at No. 10/12 Georgia \\\ 1:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Live Video
Location	Athens, Ga. (Turner Softball Stadium)
Official Web Sites	East Carolina \| Georgia \| Syracuse \| Winthrop
Tournament Central	Red and Black Showcase Tournament Central
Game Notes	East Carolina \| Georgia \| Syracuse \| Winthrop
2016 Statistics	East Carolina \| Georgia \| Syracuse \| Winthrop
Social Media	@ECUSoftball \| East Carolina Softball (Instagram) \| @ECUScoreboard (in-game updates) \| #ECUndaunted

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina begins its second season under head coach Courtney Oliver's watch this weekend, heading south to the University of Georgia for the Red and Black Showcase at Turner Stadium in Athens. The Pirates will take on 2016 Women's College World Series participant and host and No. 10/12 Georgia as well as Syracuse and Winthrop.

ECU notched a 23-31 overall record in Oliver's debut campaign, upping its win total by seven from the previous season.

East Carolina returns three of its top four hitters, including Karlie Smith who batted a team-best .323 as a sophomore and Ciara Ervin who hit .315 and led the team with seven home runs and a .577 slugging percentage. In the circle, Lydia Ritchie returns for her senior season following a 2016 campaign during which she posted a 13-12 record with a 2.67 earned run average, 13 complete games, six complete game shutouts and 178 strikeouts. Ritchie is currently 10th on the program's career strikeout list.

A total of seven newcomers dot the 2017 roster, including NC State transfer Meredith Burroughs who recorded 13 home runs for the Wolfpack last season. She also started every game for the 2015 NC State squad that reached the program's first-ever NCAA Super Regional against Oregon.

Scouting Syracuse
Syracuse is under the direction of second-year head coach Mike Bosch who guided the Orange to a 27-26 overall record and 9-14 Atlantic Coast Conference mark in 2016 - good for seventh place in the league standings. Syracuse returns its top hitter in Sammy Fernandez who batted .324 and led the squad with 57 hits. The Orange did lose its top power hitter, however, as Corinne Ozanne clubbed 14 home runs and ended up with a .579 slugging percentage. As a team, Syracuse hit .250 while the pitching staff turned in a 3.63 ERA paced by AnnaMarie Gatti's 12 wins, 12 complete games, 12 complete game shutouts and 91 strikeouts. The Pirates and Orange have split their only two meetings with Syracuse winning 3-0 in Hawai'i on March 12, 2013 and East Carolina taking a 4-3 victory at home back on Feb. 23, 2008.

About Winthrop
Coaching veteran Mark Cooke enters his 27th season as the head coach of the Winthrop softball program. The Eagles struggled to a 15-43 record and a 4-20 Big South Conference ledger last season but do return their top four hitters and top pitcher. Morgan Lowers hit a team-best .295 while also pacing the squad in hits (51) and doubles (10). Kiley Majette compiled a 5.15 ERA seven wins, 12 complete games and 92 strikeouts. Collectively, Winthrop hit .241 and finished with a team ERA of 5.57. The Pirates lead the overall series with the Eagles by a 15-1 count and have won 15 straight after losing the first-ever contest between the schools. Moreover, East Carolina has outscored Winthrop by a combined 19-1 in the last five encounters.

Taking A Look At Georgia
Lu Harris-Champer is in her 20th season in charge of the University of Georgia softball program. She led the Bulldogs to their third Women's College World Series appearance in 2016 as part of a 46-20 overall record and 12-12 Southeastern Conference ledger. The run to the WCWS was highlighted by a Super Regional sweep of two-time defending national champion Florida in Gainesville. Georgia returns five positional starters and three pitchers, including sisters Sydni and Cortnei Emmanuel who hit .441 and .401 respectively, but loses pitcher Chelsea Wilkinson who was first in the SEC and seventh nationally in wins (28) while fourth in the league and 24th in the nation in strikeouts (219). The Bulldogs have won all three meetings with the Pirates, including the most recent encounter by a 1-0 margin on Feb. 12, 2011 in Athens, Ga.

In Season Openers
East Carolina looks to win its season opener for the fifth-straight season. The Pirates run-ruled Virginia 9-1 in six innings last year in Oliver's debut as head coach. ECU has not lost a season opener since falling to UVA 3-1 to open the 2012 campaign.

A Leader Among Our Peers
East Carolina has racked up 1,360 victories in 32 seasons of competition, the most total wins of any school in the American Athletic Conference. Since the 2008 campaign, the Pirates have made four NCAA Regional appearances and have captured two conference tournament titles as well as a regular season championship in Conference USA.

Taking On The Top 25
ECU is slated to match up with three teams ranked in the preseason USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top 25 poll in No. 12 Georgia, No. 14 James Madison and No. 25 USF. Additionally, conference foes UCF and Tulsa are receiving votes.

Challenging The ACC
East Carolina is scheduled to play six members of the Atlantic Coast Conference this season - Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Pittsburgh and NC State. Last year, the Pirates went 2-1 against the league securing wins over Virginia (9-1) and NC State (7-4) while falling to a nationally-ranked Notre Dame side 8-0 in Kissimmee, Fla.

Beating Ranked Foes
In its last American Athletic Conference series of 2016, East Carolina defeated No. 25 UCF 2-1 as Lydia Ritchie tossed a complete game needing just 89 pitches to finish the job. The victory was the first for the Pirates over a ranked opponent since April 12, 2014 when they defeated then No. 15 Tulsa 10-2 in run-rule fashion (five innings).

Finding the Sticks
Despite finishing the season with a .262 team batting average, East Carolina began to heat up in the latter part of the season and hit .284 with four players batting .321 or better. Outfielder Ciara Ervin busted out with a .361 batting average that included 13 hits, six runs scored, two triples, a .556 slugging percentage and .410 on base mark. Additionally, the Pirates cleaned up the defense by committing just eight errors during the stretch for a .973 fielding percentage.

Hunting Goose Eggs
ECU shut out eight opponents last season, the most since the 2011 squad held opponents without a run on 21 occasions.

Nationally-Ranked Recruiting Class
FLOSOFTBALL.com has tabbed East Carolina's recently announced 2017 recruiting class No. 22 in the nation – the first time ECU has boasted a nationally-ranked recruiting class in softball. The group includes infielder Ashleigh Inae (Riverside, Calif./King HS) who is considered the No. 84 prep player in the country. Moreover, four of the six signees are ranked in FLOSOFTBALL's national top 200.

Weiman Picked Up By Racers
First-year graduate assistant coach Emily Weiman, who rates as the most successful pitcher in NC State softball history, signed a free agent deal with the Akron Racers of National Pro Fastpitch in January. She threw two seasons for the Pennsylvania Rebellion before the team ceased operations just recently. Weiman helped the Pirates last year as the team's volunteer assistant coach.

Up Next
Following the season-opening Red and Black Showcase, East Carolina makes its home debut Feb. 17-19 as host of the Pirate Clash. The Purple and Gold will welcome Bryant, St. Francis (Pa.), Fordham and Cleveland State to the ECU Softball Stadium for the three-day event.

Gameday: Softball Kicks Off 2017 Campaign At Red And Black Showcase

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Players Mentioned

Meredith Burroughs

Ciara Ervin

Lydia Ritchie

Karlie Smith

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