DePaul is Top Seed at C-USA Softball Tournament
May 07, 2001 | Softball
May 7, 2001
Complete Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
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CHICAGO, Ill. - The No. 13 DePaul Blue Demons are the Conference USA regular season champions and the top seed at the 2001 C-USA Tournament, presented by U of L Health Care May 10-12 at Ulmer Stadium in Louisville, Ky. All eight league teams compete in the double elimination tournament, with the champion earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Conference USA has advanced two teams to the Women's College World Series (DePaul and Southern Miss) each of the last two seasons.
DePaul (47-13-1 overall and 17-3 in Conference USA) will meet eighth-seeded Charlotte (16-31, 2-19) at 2 p.m. EDT on May 10. This is the Blue Demons' first C-USA regular season crown, and they hope to better last year's runners-up finish, when they lost to Southern Miss, 4-0 in the final. DePaul boasts two of the nation's top pitchers in sophomore LINDSAY CHOUINARD (0.84 ERA) and freshman SARAH MARTZ (0.89 ERA). Charlotte closed its regular season with a 1-0, 11-inning victory over Saint Louis on May 5.
Saint Louis (25-32, 5-16) is the seventh seed in the tournament and will meet second-seeded Southern Miss (42-18, 15-6) at 10 a.m. EDT on May 10. SLU has posted one of the best turnarounds in the nation this season, as the Billikens were 9-43 overall in 2000. USM ended the regular season on a four-game winning streak and has won eight of its last 10. Of the 12 no-hitters tossed by Conference USA pitchers this season, the Golden Eagles' FELECIA GONZALES has four of them, including one perfect game.
South Florida (39-29, 12-9) earned the tournament's third seed and meets sixth-seeded UAB at Noon, EDT on May 10. The JESSI KOWAL (0.96 ERA) leads the Bulls' pitching staff. UAB outfielder CLIFFANIE ENGRAM ranks among C-USA's top four in home runs, RBI and total bases.
The host team for the tournament, Louisville (37-24, 12-9) is the fourth seed, and it will battle fifth-seeded Houston (22-31, 10-10) at 4:30 p.m. EDT on May 10. In only their second year as a varsity program, the Cardinals eclipsed last years win total, while the Cougars concluded their debut regular season with a 2-0 victory over visiting UAB on May 5.
The Conference USA Television Network will air the C-USA Softball Tournament Championship Game on May 12 at 2 p.m. EDT. The satellite coordinates are SBS 6, Transponder 5. DON RUSSELL will call the play-by-play, and CHERI KEMPF provides analysis.
C-USA TELEVISION NETWORK
Here is a breakdown of where the championship game has been syndicated.
- WBQC Channel 25 (Cincinnati) - live
- WYCS Channel 24 (Louisville) - live
- WBII Channel 30 (Memphis) - live
- Sunshine Network - May 16, 11:30 p.m. EDT
- Comcast Charter Southeast - live
- Fox Sports Net Florida - live
- New England Sports Network (NESN) - live
- Armed Forces Network - live
- Fox Sports Chicago - May 17, 12 p.m. CDT, if DePaul is playing in the game.
