CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
GREENVILLE, N.C. – The No. 6 seed East Carolina pulled an upset over No. 3 UCF with a 4-2 victory in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Championship Wednesday afternoon at the East Carolina Softball Complex. The Pirates advanced to the conference semifinals with the win and will face the winner of No. 2 Houston and No. 7 UConn Thursday at 12:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. CT.
East Carolina scored their first ever run in The American Championship with a sacrifice fly from senior Kacie Oshiro in the top of the third. The Knights evened up the score (1-1) with an RBI-single from freshman Jazmine Esparza in the bottom of the fourth. The Pirates regained the lead with back-to-back homeruns from Meredith Burroughs and Alex Mycek in the top of the sixth.
East Carolina (26-29) had one player with a multi-hit game in senior Megan Quick (2-for-3). 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, who fell to 29-23 with the loss.
In the circle, Lydia Ritchie (17-15) picked up the win for East Carolina while Alea White fell to 18-15 with the loss for UCF.
Schedule/Results:
Quarterfinals - Wednesday May 10
(All games on The American Digital Network)
Game 1 – No. 6 East Carolina 4, No. 3 UCF 2
Game 2 – No. 7 UConn vs. No. 2 Houston 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT
Thursday May 11
(All games on The American Digital Network)
Quarterfinals-
Game 3 – No. 4 USF vs. No. 5 Memphis 10 a.m. ET/ 9 a.m. CT
Semifinals-
Game 4 –No. 6 East Carolina vs. Game 2 winner, 12:30 p.m. ET/11:30 CT
Semifinals - Friday, May 12
(All games on The American Digital Network)
Game 5 – No. 1 Tulsa vs. Game 3 winner, 1 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT
Championship - Saturday, May 13
(ESPN)
Game 6 – Semifinal winners, Noon ET/11 a.m. CT