May 15, 2010

Championship Central

Final Box

HOUSTON - East Carolina won the 2010 Conference USA Softball Championship with a 3-1 win over UCF Saturday at Cougar Softball Stadium in Houston, Texas. This is the Pirates' first conference tournament title in school history and clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

East Carolina (42-16,16-5) has rattled off 11-straight wins, clinching the regular season and 2010 conference tournament in the process.

"I'm so proud of our kids today," said East Carolina head coach Tracey Kee. "We made some huge mistakes and dug ourselves a hole in the first inning but we were able to rebound from it. Our season started rough at 2-7 and to end up where we are now is a very special moment."

Conference USA Softball Tournament MVP and C-USA Pitcher of the Year Toni Paisley threw a complete-game, three-hitter to pick up her 30th win of the season. The junior lowered her season ERA to 0.97 with the victory. Paisley fanned six batters in the game and now has 340 strikeouts for the season to set a new ECU record.

UCF (35-21, 16-7) struck first on heads-up base running by all-conference 2B Natalie Land. Land drew a one-out walk off of Paisely. She then stole second and was able to advance to third on a throwing error. On a 3-1 count, Paisley painted the outside corner for a strike to bring the count full on Abby McClain, but ECU catcher Kia Clark lost track of the count. Thinking it was strike three to end the inning, Clark lofted the ball back to the circle. As the ball left her hand, Land darted for home and was able to dive in head first just before the tag to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.

East Carolina scored two runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead, 2-1. Marina Gusman-Brown singled to shortstop on the first pitch of the inning and was able to advance to second on a Kaui Tom ground out. Next up for the Pirates was Sissy Jimenez, who reached on an error and was able to advance to second on the throw, while Gusman-Brown scored. Later in the frame, Priscilla Velasquez hit a sac fly to left field to plate Aona from third.

The Pirates plated one more run in the top of the sixth inning when Aona scored on an error to give ECU a 3-1 lead.

All-Tournament Team
C - Abby McClain, UCF
IF - Sissy Jimenez, East Carolina
IF - Kaui Tom, East Carolina
IF - Hillary Barrow, UCF
IF - Natalie Land, UCF
OF - Marina Gusman-Brown, East Carolina
OF - Vanessa Moreno, East Carolina
OF - Vanessa Perez, UCF
P - Ashleigh Cole, UCF
UT - Maddie McKinley, Memphis
MVP/P - Toni Paisley, East Carolina

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