CCU

CCU Softball Set to Defend Big South Title

       

CCU Softball Set to Defend Big South Title

CONWAY, S.C. — Coastal Carolina University's softball team will begin defense of its Big South Conference Championship this Friday as the top-seeded Lady Chanticleers travel to Rock Hill, South Carolina, for the 2002 McAllister’s Deli Big South Softball Championship. Each game for CCU can be heard live on the Chanticleers web site (www.coastal.edu/athletics) as Wayne White broadcast all of the action.

Coastal (27-18, 8-2), which receives a bye through the first round of the tournament, will be seeking the program's fifth Big South title overall and third consecutive. The Lady Chants will also be seeking their fourth trip to the NCAA Regionals in the past five years.

Leading the way for the Lady Chanticleers this season offensively are juniors Kimberly Josephson (Pinehurst, Texas) and Holly Lee (Darlington, South Carolina). Josephson sets the table for CCU as the leadoff hitter with a league-best .390 batting average. While she sets the table, Lee is in charge of cleanup duties with her .374 batting average and Big South-leading 10 homeruns and .727 slugging percentage.

Leading the Lady Chanticleers defensively is the Big South's top pitching staff. The staff of seniors Stephanie Belden (Spring, Texas), Danielle Jenkins (Vienna, Virginia) and Lauren Yates (Nokesville, Virginia) and junior Morgan Tolleson (Tomball, Texas) leads the League with a 2.59 ERA. Belden (12-5) has won eight of her last nine decisions, while Yates (9-4) has a 5-0 record with a 0.98 ERA in her last eight appearances. Jenkins (5-4) leads the squad with a 2.32 ERA.

After taking a bye in Friday's first round games, the Lady Chants will play in round two at 7:00 p.m. against the winner of the #4 seed Winthrop and #5 seed Liberty contest. The other second round game will pit #2 seed Elon against the winner of the #3 seed Radford/#6 seed Charleston Southern match-up.

The consolation games and winner’s bracket semifinals will be played Saturday. The Championship game begins at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday May 12. Every game of the 2002 tournament will be played at the Winthrop University Softball Complex.

In addition to Coastal Carolina's games being broadcast live via the internet, every game of the championships can be viewed via live StatCasts. A real-time display of statistics and play-by-play, the StatCast allows Big South softball fans to follow each pitch of the 2002 Championship. The live StatCasts will be available at BigSouthSports.com.

Friday, May 10
Game 1: 5:00 p.m. #4 Winthrop vs. #5 Liberty
Game 2: 5:00 p.m. #3 Radford vs. #6 Charleston Southern
Game 3: 7:00 p.m. #1 Coastal Carolina vs. Winner Game 1
Game 4: 7:00 p.m. #2 Elon vs. Winner Game 2

Saturday, May 11
Game 5: 1:00 p.m. Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 4
Game 6: 1:00 p.m. Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 3
Game 7: 3:00 p.m. Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6
Game 8: 5:00 p.m. Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
Game 9: 7:00 p.m. Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 7

Sunday, May 12
Game 10: 1:00 p.m. Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9
Game 11*: 3:00 p.m. Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 10
* (Necessary only if winner of game 9 wins game 10)