May 7, 2007
Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The Conference USA office announced on Monday that Marshall and Memphis fought their way to the final two spots in the 2007 Conference USA Championship presented by Coca-Cola that will take place May 10-12 at the UCF Softball Complex. Only six of the nine league squads were able to qualify for the postseason tournament, with the top four already decided last week.
The six-team field will begin to arrive in Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday to start practice and take part in the C-USA Championship Banquet at the Radisson University Hotel to kick-off the tournament.
Houston, the C-USA regular-season champions, have secured the No. 1 seed in the tournament going 20-4 in league play and 39-16 overall. The Cougars are led by ace pitcher, Angel Shamblin who ranks first in C-USA contests in ERA, opposing batting average, strikeouts and wins and is tied for the lead in innings pitched. Houston's top ranking gives them a first-round bye on Thursday.
The No. 2 seed in the tournament belongs to East Carolina, who wrapped up its regular-season schedule with a C-USA series sweep of Southern Miss, moving its record to 14-9 in the conference and 38-18 overall. East Carolina will also have a first-round bye on Thursday.
The Tulsa Golden Hurricane clinched the No. 3 seed after posting a 13-10 C-USA record and a 30-26 overall mark. The Golden Hurricane managed to take two of three games from UTEP last weekend to secure its position.
Tournament host, UCF, claimed the No. 4 seed thanks to a series sweep of UTEP April 28-29. The Knights are led from the circle by Allison Kime with a 0.93 ERA and offensively by Breanne Javier with .366 batting average in league games.
Marshall used two home runs from Rachel Folden to take a game three victory from Houston on Sunday to put itself in the No. 5 spot in the tournament. Even though the Thundering Herd hold the same league record as UCF, the Knights took two of three from Marshall earlier in the year, placing the Knights a notch above the Herd in the four spot.
Lastly, Memphis made a huge comeback in the conference standings to secure its No. 6 seeding. The Tigers needed back-to-back C-USA series sweeps over UAB and UCF to make the postseason event
For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports.
2007 Conference USA Softball Championship presented by Coca-Cola Game Schedule
Thursday, May 10, 2007
10:00 a.m. Game 1 #3 Tulsa vs. #6 Memphis
12:30 p.m. Game 2 #4 UCF vs. #5 Marshall
4:00 p.m. Game 3 #2 East Carolina vs. Winner of Game 1
6:30 p.m. Game 4 #1 Houston vs. Winner of Game 2
Friday, May 11, 2007
10:00 a.m. Game 5 Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 4
12:30 p.m. Game 6 Loser of Game 2 vs. Loser of Game 3
4:00 p.m. Game 7 Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5
6:30 p.m. Game 8 Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 6
Saturday, May 12, 2007
*10:00 a.m. Game 9
*12:30 p.m. Game 10
3:30 p.m. Game 11 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
If the winner of Game 5 defeats the winner of Game 3 (Game 7), then Game 9 is necessary.
If the winner of Game 6 defeats the winner of Game 4 (Game 8), then Game 10 is necessary.
*If necessary games will be played at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. if both games are needed or 12:30 p.m. if only one if necessary game needs to be played.
The higher seed will play in the first game on Saturday if both "if necessary" games are being played.
- UCF -