Gameday: ECU Wraps Regular Season With Home Series Against Tulsa

Games 52-54: Tulsa
Series Schedule	Friday, April 28 \\\ 6:00 p.m. Saturday, April 29 \\\ 2:00 p.m. Sunday, April 30 \\\ Noon
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Live Video
Location	Greenville, N.C. (ECU Softball Stadium)
Official Web Sites	East Carolina \| T ulsa
2017 Statistics	East Carolina \| Tulsa
Social Media	@ECUSoftball \| East Carolina Softball (Instagram) \| @ECUScoreboard (in-game updates) \| #ECUndaunted

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The 2017 regular season comes to a close for East Carolina this weekend when it welcomes current American Athletic Conference leader Tulsa to the ECU Softball Stadium for a three-game league series.

The Purple and Gold will honor its five-member senior class Sunday before the series finale as well as host its alumni for Saturday's contest as part of Letterwinners Weekend.

East Carolina dropped all three games of its series at Houston last weekend to fall to 25-26 overall and 5-10 in AAC play. The Cougars captured the sweep by scores of 4-0, 6-4 and 2-1, needing a walkoff single in the series finale to secure victory.

ECU is tied with Memphis (4-8 AAC) for fifth in the conference standings but the Tigers own the tiebreaker over the Pirates by virtue of their series win earlier this season in Memphis.

East Carolina is hitting .259 as a team with a .452 slugging percentage and a .361 on base mark. The Pirates currently lead the AAC in slugging percentage, runs scored (250), RBI (231), doubles (60), home runs (61), total bases (579), sacrifice flies (14) and walks drawn (181). ECU is currently third nationally in home runs and fourth in home runs per game (1.20)

Junior infielder Meredith Burroughs leads the team with a .305 batting average while senior outfielder Ali Ramirez is second with a .303 mark. Burroughs paces the squad in RBI (45), total bases (93) and sacrifice flies (5) and is second in home runs (14). Redshirt junior catcher Alex Mycek leads the AAC in slugging percentage (.672), home runs (15) and walks (31) while senior outfielder Kacie Oshiro paces the circuit in doubles (11) and at bats (159).

In terms of pitching, Ritchie is 16-12 with a 2.64 earned run average. She has stuck out 133 batters (second in the AAC) against 66 walks and opposing teams are batting .253 against her. Ritchie currently ranks seventh on the program career chart for strikeouts with 351.

Tulsa enters the weekend with a 33-13 overall record and 11-1 mark in AAC play. The Hurricane swept Connecticut last weekend in Storrs in dominant fashion, outscoring the Huskies 17-1. Julia Hollingsworth paces the Tulsa offense with a .399 batting average to go along with 57 hits, 10 doubles, five home runs and 26 RBI. Emily Watson has tossed most of the innings in the circle, boasting a league-best 1.08 ERA. She has thrown 21 complete games, including 10 solo shutouts, and has struck out 275 batters. Opponents are hitting just .171 off of the Hurricane ace.

Tulsa leads the series with East Carolina 22-11 after the Hurricane swept the Pirates in the regular season and defeated the Purple and Gold in the first round of the conference tournament in Tulsa.

RPI Check
In the latest release of the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index, ECU checks in at 127. The Hurricane has garnered a ranking of 30 this week.

Up Next
With the regular season complete following this weekend's series, East Carolina will take two weeks to prepare for the American Athletic Conference Softball Championship. The event is scheduled for May 11-13 and will take place at the ECU Softball Stadium.

Gameday: ECU Wraps Regular Season With Home Series Against Tulsa

Players Mentioned

Meredith Burroughs

Alex Mycek

Kacie Oshiro

Ali Ramirez

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