May 7, 2012

C-USA Championship Bracket  | Championship Central | C-USA Digital Network

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – After an exciting weekend sweep of UCF, Marshall softball earned the three seed in the Conference USA tournament and will face the sixth seed East Carolina on Thursday.

The first round match-up will begin at 5:30 p.m. ET in Birmingham, Ala. UAB will serve as the host with all games being played at the UAB Softball Field.

The winner of Thursday’s contest will face the winner of UAB and Memphis on Friday.

Over the weekend, the Thundering Herd (34-20, 15-9 C-USA) won all three contests against the Knights, including a thrilling 10 inning contest in the final game on Sunday. Alysia Hively’s leadoff home run propelled MU to a 1-0 win.

Junior pitcher Andi Williamson was outstanding in the circle. She started each game and pitched a total of 24 innings to help her pick up her 23rd win of the season. The win total ties her for the most wins for a Herd pitcher (Randi Nielson, 2006). She also struck out 19 in the three game span while allowing just six hits each day (three in each game Saturday and six on Sunday).

The West Virginia native concludes the regular season as the leader in conference for earned run average (1.47), opposing batting average (.187), and wins. Her opponents’ batting average is the lowest in any single-season for a Herd pitcher and the first to be below .200. Additionally, Williamson’s strikeout total of 129 in conference games leads the league.

The Herd and the Pirates (25-27, 11-12 C-USA) matched up just over a week ago in Greenville, N.C. Marshall picked up a game one win but was limited by ECU in the following two contests to drop the series.

Each game expect for the championship game will be available for viewing through the C-USA Digital Network. Current subscribers to an All-Access subscription at a member institution will need to upgrade to the C-USA network. Interested persons will need to cancel their subscription and purchase the conference package separately.

Barring a change, each game of Marshall’s time in the tournament will be available on WMUL 88.1 FM and www.marshall.edu/wmul. Live stats from GameTracker, updates from twitter and detailed reports from live in-game chat will be available as well.

Tickets to the 2012 C-USA Softball Championship can purchased online from UAB by clicking here.

2012 Conference USA Softball Championship Schedule 
May 10-12 -- UAB Softball Field

Thursday, May 10 
Game 1 - No. 8 Southern Miss vs. No. 1 Tulsa, 12:00 p.m. 
Game 2 - No. 4 UCF vs. No. 5 Houston, 2:30 p.m. 
Game 3 - No. 3 Marshall vs. No. 6 East Carolina, 5:30 p.m. 
Game 4 - No. 7 Memphis vs. No. 2 UAB, 8:00 p.m.

Friday, May 11 
Game 5/Semifinal 1 - Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 3:00 p.m. 
Game 6/Semifinal 2 - Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 12 
Game 7/Championship Game - Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 2:00 p.m. (CBS Sports Network) 

*All times are eastern