Pirate softball begins regional play against No. 25 BYU

First pitch between East Carolina and BYU will be at 6 p.m. (EST)

The East Carolina softball team will begin NCAA regional play today when it squares off against 25 th-ranked BYU in Austin, TX.

The Pirates (42-16) are making their third NCAA appearance and second in the last three seasons. The Conference USA regular season and tournament champs are currently riding an 11-game win streak and have allowed just a single run during that span. ECU is a veteran team with previous NCAA experience that has played a very strong schedule that included the likes of Florida (three games), Hawaii (two games), Washington (one game) and Fresno State (two games).

ECU’s offensive production has been mediocre at best, but it hasn’t needed much run production due to the strong pitching of junior Toni Paisley.

Paisley (30-9) has a miniscule .97 era and opponents are batting just .150 against her. She leads the nation with 21 shutouts and has struck out 340 compared to just 55 walks.

The Cougars’ line-up will be one of the best she has seen.

BYU (43-11) is hitting .339 with 82 home runs. Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Angeline Quiocho leads the team in average (.427), doubles (14), home runs (27), slugging percentage (1.006) and runs batted in (84). J.C. Clayton is also batting above .400, as she is hitting .408. Clayton is tied for the team lead in steals with nine.

The Cougars’ top pitcher Paige Affleck has also won 30 games. She has an era of .228 and opponents are batting .212 against her. She has, however, seemed to struggle with her control. Affleck has a strikeout to walk ratio of 207 to 125.

She will face a Pirate line-up that is hitting just .257, but must be wary of Marina Gusman-Brown. Gusman-Brown leads ECU with her .329 average. She also has a team-high 12 home runs. Charina Sumner, who is hitting .324, is the only other Pirate over .300.

The East Carolina-BYU winner will face either Texas or Iona in Friday’s winner’s bracket match-up.