May 4, 2008

2008 C-USA Softball Championship Bracket

IRVING, Texas - The pairings are set for the 2008 C-USA Softball Championship after weekend play concluded on Sunday. The championship takes place May 8-10 at the state-of-the-art Cougar Softball Stadium on the campus of the University of Houston. Houston clinched its second consecutive regular season title last weekend and will enter the championship as the No. 1 seed. This year's championship will feature all nine teams in a single-elimination bracket with the winner gaining the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Softball Championship.

UCF (43-18, 16-7), who has been receiving votes in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 polls, claimed the No. 2 seed, while Tulsa (34-22, 14-10) finished the season third in the league standings to grab the third seed. Marshall (26-28, 11-11), who has gone an impressive 14-5 in April and May, claimed the No. 4 seed.

Play begins at 9:00 a.m. CT on Thursday with No. 8 UAB taking on No. 9 Memphis. UAB enters the contest at 24-34 overall and 9-15 in the league. The Blazers are coming off a tough series with East Carolina that saw them drop two of three games by a total of three runs. The Tigers come into the event with a 24-29 overall mark and a 4-18 ledger conference games.

No. 2 UCF takes on No. 7 Southern Miss in the 12:00 p.m. game on Thursday. The Knights have the second-best overall record among league teams and have won 30 of thier last 35 contests. Southern Miss sits at 25-29 overall and 9-15 in the league under first-year head coach Howard Dobson.

No. 3 Tulsa will battle No. 6 UTEP at 2:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon. TU has been steadily moving up the RPI rankings in the last month and boasts the nation's 38th toughest schedule. The Miners are making their first appearance in the C-USA Championship at stand at 29-23 overall and 10-14 against conference foes.

The host Cougars will face the winner of game one between No. 8 UAB and No. 9 Memphis in the first evening contest at 5:30 p.m. UH has won 13 of its last 16 games and will enter the championship with a program record 48 wins. Houston also became the fourth team in C-USA Softball history to win 20 league games and first team since DePaul in 2002 and 2003 to win to win every league series during the regular season in back-to-back seasons.

Play on Thursday will wrap up with No. 4 Marshall facing No. 5 East Carolina. The Pirates are one of four C-USA team that surpassed the 30-win plateau this season and have the third-most overall wins with 35.

Semifinal action will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Friday with the C-USA Softball Championship Game to be played on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on CBS College Sports.

WEEKEND RECAP
No. 9 Houston swept its final league series of the season against UTEP over the weekend. Houston grabbed a 2-0 win on Sunday after sweeping the Saturday doubleheader by scores of, 5-0, and, 1-0. Houston's 21 wins in C-USA are the second most single-season wins in the conference's nine years and the most since DePaul recorded 22 wins during the 2003 season. On Saturday, Laurie Wagner hit her 17th home run of the season to lead the Cougars. Wagner hit the three-run home run on the first pitch in the first inning of game one. Her 17 homers are tied for the single season UH record set during the 2005 season.

UCF used a nail-biting 1-0 win over Southern Miss on Sunday to take the series, 2-1. The Knights scored on a wild pitch in the first inning and Allison Kime shut down the Golden Eagles the rest of the way to improve to 26-10 in the circle on the season. On Saturday, despite out-hitting Southern Miss, 6-3, in game one, UCF could not pull off the win, falling to the home team, 2-1, before battling back to take a 5-3 win from in the nightcap. With a double in the first game and a single in the second, Breanne Javier extended her hitting streak to 14 games and tied the UCF all-time record for most-consecutive games with a hit.

Tulsa swept Memphis to finished in third place in the league standings at 14-10. On Sunday, TU sent its two seniors out in style with an 8-0, five-inning run-rule victory. Seniors Sara Dyer and Lindsey Tower played in their final contests on the TU campus helping Tulsa win its 34th game of the season. The Golden Hurricane finished an impressive 15-3 at home this season.

Junior pitcher Autumn Mitchell tossed a one-hitter against the Georgetown Hoyas to guide Marshall to a 13-0 victory to conclude its 2008 regular-season, in Saturday afternoon's nonconference doubleheader finale. Mitchell (10-5) went 5.0 innings to record her first career one-hit performance, while hurling five strikeouts for the Herd. Mitchell pitched a two-hitter in the Herd's second game of the season against the College of Charleston, Feb. 9, 2007.

East Carolina is going into the C-USA Championship with some momentum as it defeated UAB 3-2 in the regular season finale, taking the three-game series, 2-1.