Gameday: Softball Concludes 2018 Regular Season At UCF

Games 52-54: at UCF
Series Schedule	May 4 \\\ 5:30 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch May 5 \\\ 2:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch May 6 \\\ Noon \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch
Location	Orlando, Fla. (UCF Softball Complex)
Social Media	@ECUSoftball (Twitter) \\\ Instagram \\\ Facebook \\\ @ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) \\\ #ECUndaunted

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Final positioning for the American Athletic Conference Softball Championship is at stake this weekend as ECU ends the regular season with a three-game league series at UCF in Orlando. The opener is set for Friday at 5:30 p.m. while the subsequent two contests are slated for Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at Noon.

ECU is 23-28 overall after a 2-2 showing last week. The Pirates knocked off NC State 2-1 Wednesday before falling in two of three games against current AAC second place Wichita State. Freshman RHP Erin Poepping was spectacular in Saturday's contest versus the Shockers, tossing her second career complete-game shutout with no walks and five strikeouts. Senior Karlie Smith drove in three runs with a two-run single and sacrifice fly.

The Pirates are 8-10 in AAC play, good for a sixth-place tie with Tulsa. UCF is one game ahead of the Pirates and Golden Hurricane at 9-9 while Houston and Memphis are tied for third place at 10-8. USF (12-6) and Wichita State (11-5) will face off in Tampa – the site of next week's conference tournament – to decide the league's regular season champion.

ECU is hitting .238 as a team with 44 doubles, two triples and 35 home runs. Freshman Tyler King and redshirt sophomore Tate McClellan pace the unit with .279 batting averages and have combined for 18 doubles, two triples and nine home runs. In the circle, the Pirates sport a collective 3.42 earned run average with Poepping and fellow freshman Whitney Sanford tossing 268.1 of ECU's 342 innings. The duo has struck out 149 batters between them and sport respective 3.30 and 3.62 ERAs.

About UCF
The Knights are 31-21 overall following a series loss at USF last weekend. UCF is hitting .257 as a squad, led by Denali Schappacher who is batting .346 with a team-high six doubles and is second on the team with nine stolen bases. The Knights have four players currently hitting .301 or better. Sophomore Alea White has carried UCF in terms of pitching, throwing 238.2 of the squad's 340 innings with 34 games started in 45 appearances. She owns a 2.35 earned run average with 166 strikeouts against 80 walks.

The Series
ECU leads the all-time series with UCF 20-17. The teams split their four meetings a season ago as the Knights won two of three during the regular season before the Pirates emerged on top in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament in Greenville.

Last Meeting (May 10, 2017)
No. 6 seed and host ECU won its first-ever American Athletic Conference Softball Championship tournament game, knocking off No. 3 seed UCF 4-2 in the quarterfinals at the ECU Softball Stadium. ECU featured one player with a multi-hit game in Megan Quick as she was 2-for-3 at the dish. Four different Pirates connected on at least one hit in the victory. Megan Greenwell and Willow Kalinen each had two hits apiece for the Knights. In the circle, Lydia Ritchie picked up the win as she allowed two runs on 10 hits with no walks and a strikeout while Alea White fell to 18-15 with the loss. She surrendered four runs (three earned) on five hits with a pair of walks and two strikeouts.

Up Next
The 2018 American Athletic Conference Softball Championship is slated for May 11-13 at the USF Softball Stadium. The winner of the tourney receives the league's automatic bid into a NCAA Softball Championship regional.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tyler King

Tate McClellan

Erin Poepping

Megan Quick

Lydia Ritchie

Whitney Sanford

Karlie Smith

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