The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
East Carolina
East Carolina upends No. 12 Softball, 1-0 at the NCAA Austin Regional
05.21.2010 | Softball
May 21, 2010
AUSTIN, Texas -- Freshman righthander Blaire Luna fired her 28th complete game of the season and fanned 11 batters as the 12th-ranked and seventh-seeded Longhorns were eliminated from the NCAA Austin Regional after falling to East Carolina, 1-0, Friday night at McCombs Field. The Horns concluded their Big 12 Championship season with a 43-15 overall mark, while East Carolina improved to 44-17.
The Pirates win advanced ECU to Saturday's regional championship game at 1 p.m. Central against BYU.
Luna (30-10) tossed 6.0 innings, scattering three hits and allowing only one run, while walking four and striking out 11 in the losing effort. East Carolina starter Toni Paisley (31-10) earned the win after pitching a complete-game shutout, allowing just two hits and striking out 10.
East Carolina plated the only run of the pitching-dominated contest when leftfielder Marina Gusman-Brown led off the bottom of the sixth by launching a 1-0 pitch over the centerfield wall.
Charina Sumner and Cristen Aona joined Gusman-Brown as the only Pirates to record a hit during the contest. UT's lone singles came courtesy of senior shortstop Loryn Johnson in the second inning and freshman righfielder Taylor Hoagland in the sixth. The only other Longhorn to reach base on the night was senior centerfielder Brittany Chalk, who reached on an error by Paisley in the third.
POST-GAME NOTES
- East Carolina advances to Saturday's regional championship game at 1 p.m. Central against BYU. East Carolina would need to defeat BYU twice on Saturday to advance to next week's NCAA Super Regional. BYU needs just one win on Saturday to advance to the NCAA Super Regional.
- ECU improved to 3-5 all-time in NCAA Tournament play (three appearances).
- Texas fell to 32-22 all-time in NCAA Tournament play (11 appearances).
- Toni Paisley registered her 34th complete game of the year (in 38 starts).
- Marina Gusman-Brown's solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning was her 13th of the season.
- Blaire Luna recorded her 28th complete game of the season.
- Luna's 11 strikeouts marked the 20th time this year that she has reached double figures in strikeouts.
- With her strikeout of Sissy Jimenez to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning (seventh of the game), Luna recorded her 400th strikeout this season. She became just the second person in UT history to reach the 400-strikeout plateau in a season. Cat Osterman (2002-03, 05-06) achieved the feat in each of her four seasons in Austin.
- Taylor Hoagland's steal of second base in the top of the sixth inning was her 17th of the season. This is tied for the 10th-best single-season total in UT history.
POST-GAME QUOTES
Texas Head coach Connie Clark
Opening statement: It's tough to be done. We're not ready to be done at this point. I thought it was the tale of two games today. I think we got the performance in our defense and pitching in game two, and we got the offensive performance in game one. We just weren't able to hit on all cylinders. It's painful, to be honest. I think we have a great ball club, but we've got to tip our caps to East Carolina. (Toni) Paisley did a great job with us, and we tried to make some adjustments. But we just have to tip our caps to BYU and East Carolina. They both played really well today.
On the performance by the underclassmen: It's tough when you have young athletes. When our newcomers come in - we call them newcomers versus freshmen, we don't like to use the 'f' word - we talk a lot about how we don't call them freshmen for a reason. We expect them to be veterans as quick as they can.
On the performance by pitcher Blaire Luna: We rode Blaire this year. She was tremendous for us. We're really proud of the season she had, and she grew up a lot during the season. That's the conversation we had between games. Blaire and I talked between games, and I know (Amy) Hooks was in her ear. We just talked about the things we needed to adjust and how to come back in game two. We needed her to be a veteran and step up for us. I think she was nails for us coming into the second game, and that's going to bode really well for our future.
On Texas' season-ending loss: I'm shocked. Somber and shocked. It's tough. I think we have all of the pieces, and that's what makes it tough. Whether it's the pitching in the circle, the offense - that's the best we've ever been. We have awesome versatility, and the other piece we have is the chemistry and some great leadership. We had all of the components, and that's why it stings so much. This group is not ready to be done. We're going to have to pinch ourselves in the morning.
Catcher Amy Hooks
On East Carolina's performance: East Carolina played really good. We talked in between games about resetting from the game we just had, and we had conversations within our group saying we had to get back and stir up some things.
East Carolina
Head coach Tracey Kee
Opening Statement: Obviously we're quite humble sitting up here. I think for us to go up against a great Texas team like we did and come out on the positive side was something we envisioned. Our kids stayed and fought hard. Blaire Luna is an unbelievable pitcher and I have a healthy dose of respect for her as well as the Texas hitters. For our team to step up and play the type of game that we needed, which was basically a perfect game of softball in order to pull this off, is a credit to our kids.
On saving Toni Paisley for the game against Texas: We knew when we ran Faith Sutton out against Iona that that was a game that was like rolling the dice. If it works, it puts us in a great position for this game, and if it didn't it totally backfires. But I had a lot of confidence in Faith and our team knew our game plan.
Leftfielder Marina Gusman-Brown
On the deciding homerun: It was surreal and unbelievable. Blaire Luna is very good and we knew that she was going to come at us. I zoned on one pitch and there it was.
Pitcher Toni Paisley
On keeping the Texas hitters off balance: We knew they were great hitters going into the game and Coach Kee and I knew that we had to keep the hitters off balance. I felt like I had great command today and was really able to keep them off balance. I also had to be really careful in certain counts because I knew that at any moment they could take one out of the park.
