Host East Carolina Opens AAC Tournament Play Against UCF

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GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 6 seed East Carolina begins the quest for its first-ever American Athletic Conference softball tournament title this week, hosting the American Athletic Conference Softball Championship May 10-13 at the ECU Softball Stadium.

The Pirates will take on No. 3 seed UCF at 1 p.m. Wednesday to begin the event before No. 2 seed Houston and No. 7 seed Connecticut face off at 3:30 p.m. No. 4 seed USF and No. 5 Memphis will battle Thursday at 10 a.m. for the right to face No. 1 seed Tulsa in the semifinals Friday while the winners of the first two games will play Thursday at 12:30 p.m. to determine one half of the championship game. For now, the title contest will be played as scheduled Saturday at Noon and will be shown on ESPN.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will stream live on The American Digital Network at www.youtube.com/americanathleticconf.

ECU looks to record its first conference tournament win since joining the AAC prior to the 2015 campaign. The Pirates fell to USF 5-0 in 2015 and lost 2-0 to host and eventual champion Tulsa in last year's tourney opener.

East Carolina (25-29, 5-13 AAC) has been idle since April 30 when it fell in a tight 2-0 contest to regular season champion Tulsa in Greenville. The Pirates and Golden Hurricane played an epic 12-inning affair in the middle game of the series that Tulsa won 3-1 and the Golden Hurricane took the opener 12-0 in five innings.

The Pirates are hitting .251 as a team with a .436 slugging percentage and .353 on base mark. Entering the tournament, ECU leads the American Conference in slugging percentage, home runs, total bases and walks drawn. Junior infielder Meredith Burroughs is hitting a team-best .309 with 34 runs scored, eight doubles, 15 home runs and 46 RBI. She paces the league in three categories – slugging percentage, home runs and sacrifice flies. In the circle, senior RHP Lydia Ritchie is 16-15 with a 2.61 earned run average and 138 strikeouts in 203.2 innings pitched. She is limiting opposing hitters to a .257 batting average.

UCF (29-22, 11-7 AAC) arrives in Greenville following a big series win at then No. 24 Tulsa last weekend. The Knights are hitting .287 collectively led by Willow Kallinen's .363 batting average. UCF has four players hitting .313 or better. Freshman Alea White has done most of the pitching for the Knights this season as she owns a 3.45 ERA with 90 strikeouts in 192.2 innings pitched. The Knights sport a 3.63 team ERA and opposing hitters are batting .284 off of the group.

During the regular season, UCF won two of three from East Carolina in Greenville. The Pirates run-ruled the Knights 9-0 in the series opener before UCF bounced back with 12-3 and 3-0 victories to clinch the series. During the weekend, Ritchie tossed 16 innings with a 1.75 ERA and nine strikeouts while the ECU offense clubbed five home runs off the bats of five different players.

East Carolina leads the series with the Knights 19-17 and are 8-10 against UCF in Greenville. The last time the Pirates and Knights met in conference tournament play, ECU defeated UCF 3-1 in the championship game of the 2010 Conference USA Tournament in Houston, Texas.

2017 American Athletic Conference Softball Championship
ECU Softball Stadium \\\ Greenville, N.C.

UPDATED TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Wednesday, May 10
• Game 1 | No. 3 seed UCF vs. No. 6 seed East Carolina | 1 p.m. ET
• Game 2 | No. 2 seed Houston vs. No. 7 seed UConn | 3:30 p.m. ET

Thursday, May 11
• Game 3 | No. 4 seed USF vs. No. 5 seed Memphis | 10 a.m. ET
• Game 4 | Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner | 12:30 p.m. ET

Friday, May 12
• Game 5 | No. 1 seed Tulsa vs. Game 3 Winner | 1 p.m. ET

Saturday, May 13
• Game 6 | Game 5 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner | Noon ET

Ticket Pricing
All Session Tickets
Chairback (Adult) - $25.00
Chairback (Youth) - $12.00
Adult - $15.00
Youth - $7.00

Single Session Tickets
Chairback (Adult) - $10.00
Chairback (Youth) - $5.00
Adult - $6.00
Youth - $3.00

Host East Carolina Opens AAC Tournament Play Against UCF

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Players Mentioned

Meredith Burroughs

Lydia Ritchie

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