May 7, 2008

HOUSTON, Texas. - The fourth-seeded Marshall Thundering Herd softball team will square off against fifth-seeded East Carolina in the first round of the Conference USA Championship, Thursday, May 8 at 9 p.m. (E.T.) at the Cougar Softball Stadium in Houston, Texas.

The Herd (26-28, 11-11) and Pirates (35-27, 10-12) were scheduled for a three-game series, April 5-6, but had to settle for a doubleheader, Sunday, April 6 due to rain. During the April Showers, the Herd claimed the conference sweep over ECU with a 6-3 and 5-3 victory.

Junior Kelly Nielson led all hitters with a 3-for-6 performance against the Pirates. She finished the two games with six RBIs, a home run, a double and a triple.

Pitchers Caitlyn Jackson and Autumn Mitchell picked up the wins in the two games for the Herd. Jackson pitched in the opener going seven innings allowing three runs from nine hits. Mitchell earned the win in the second game when she came in for relief. She went 4.1 innings surrendering three hits, while striking out four, but gave up zero runs in the effort.

In the all-time series, Marshall leads 8-4 and is currently riding a two-game winning streak after the doubleheader sweep.

Prior to the tournament, the Herd finished the regular-season last week with a nonconference sweep over Georgetown. Marshall cruised past the Hoyas in both games outscoring Georgetown by combine score of 25-7. Marshall secured the victory in the first game when it scored seven runs in the final four innings.

In the second game, Marshall's junior pitcher Autumn Mitchell hurled five innings allowing one-hit, a career-high, to claim a 13-0 victory after enforcing the eight-run-rule in the fifth inning.

Marshall's Rachel Folden continues to lead the Herd with a .433 batting average, 17 home runs, 20 doubles and 53 runs scored. The Lowe's Senior Class Finalist is two home runs away from the all-time conference home run record and is currently tied for 16th on the NCAA all-time home runs list. The Baldwin Park, Calif., native is second in the nation with a .920 slugging percentage.

Senior Samantha Rodriguez is the team's RBI leader with 43 runs driven in. She posts second best numbers in doubles with nine, 13 home runs and two triples.

Pitching for the Herd will be sophomore ace Caitlyn Jackson who has seen 185.2 innings inside the circle. With 80 strikeouts on the season, Jackson has the most wins on the team with 13. Junior Autumn Mitchell will be expected to be the main reliever for the Herd as she has two saves this season and a team-low, 2.50 ERA. In relief appearances only, Mitchell boosts a 1.91 ERA.

The Herd is 3-3 at the C-USA tournament with one championship game appearance. During the 2006 season, the first in the conference, Marshall finished the conference schedule with a 15-9 record and defeated Southern Miss and Tulsa en route to the champinoship game. The tournament format then was double elimination with a single elimiatnion championship game. After sending Tulsa to the loser's bracket, the Golden Hurricane returned to the championship game against the Herd and defeated Marshall, 3-0 for the victory.

Last season, Marshall dropped its opener against Central Florida, before capturing a 1-0 victory over Memphis in a must-win game. Eventual tournament champion, Houston, ended the Herd's run with a 4-2 victory.

A new tournament format will be implemented this year, the first in conference history. All games will be single-elimination and all nine teams will be invited to the tournament. In previous years, only the top eight teams qualify for the tournament.

The tournament begins, Thursday, May 3 at 10 a.m. (ET) with eighth-seeded UAB pairing off against ninth-seeded Memphis. For more tournament information please visit the conference website at www.conferenceusa.com

All of Marshall's games will be broadcast live and can be heard online at www.marshall.edu/wmul. Free GameTracker will be provided throughout the tournament.