Softball Opens American Athletic Conference Schedule At Memphis

Games 31-33: at Memphis
Series Dates	March 24-26, 2017
Location	Memphis, Tenn. (Tigers Softball Complex)
Official Web Sites	East Carolina \| Memphis
Coverage	Live Stats \| Live Video
2017 Statistics	East Carolina \| Memphis
Social Media	@ECUSoftball \| East Carolina Softball (Instagram) \| @ECUScoreboard (in-game updates) \| #ECUndaunted

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina Softball team opens its third season of American Athletic Conference play this weekend when it travels to Memphis for a three-game series at the Tigers Softball Complex.

Friday's series opener is slated for a 6 p.m. EDT first pitch.

The Pirates (16-14) most recently split a pair of midweek games, using a walkoff home run by senior Ali Ramirez to down Campbell 6-5 Tuesday before falling just short of Elon 10-9 Wednesday.

ECU is hitting .275 as a team, led by Ramirez' .360 batting average. The Pirates have four players hitting .306 or better, including redshirt junior Alex Mycek who is batting .333 along with a slugging percentage of .800 and a .485 on base mark.

Entering conference play, East Carolina leads the AAC in slugging percentage (.489), runs scored (174), RBI (156), doubles (40), home runs (40), total bases (374) and walks drawn (119). Individually, Mycek paces the league in slugging percentage and walks drawn (22) while Mycek and junior infielder Meredith Burroughs are tied for the AAC's top mark in home runs (10) and total bases (60).

In terms of pitching, the Pirates sport a 4.95 team earned run average and have struck out 126 batters against 122 walks. Senior RHP Lydia Ritchie leads the group with a 3.28 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 81.0 innings of work.

About Memphis
The Tigers fell to Belmont 5-4 in 11 innings on the road Wednesday night to move their overall record to 15-12. Lindsay Crowdus and Kyler Trosclair pace a Memphis offense that is hitting .270 as a team with respective .467 and .432 batting averages. Molly Smith is the statistical ace of the pitching staff, boasting a 2.31 ERA and 54 strikeouts. Collectively, the Tigers have compiled a 3.24 team ERA while opposing batters are hitting .292 off of the staff.

The Series
East Carolina leads the series with Memphis 21-9 after the Tigers took two of three from the Pirates in Greenville last season. The teams split the first two games before Memphis grabbed a 4-2 win in the finale. ECU holds a 10-4 record in games played at Memphis.

Up Next
East Carolina returns to the Tar Heel State next week and will head south to Wilmington Wednesday for a doubleheader against UNCW. First pitch for game one at Boseman Field is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Softball Opens American Athletic Conference Schedule At Memphis

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Players Mentioned

Meredith Burroughs

Alex Mycek

Ali Ramirez

Lydia Ritchie

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