Wednesday, May 10, 2006

BOCA RATON, Fla. (May 10, 2006) - After finishing the regular season winning seven of its last eight, the ETSU softball team has drawn the fifth seed in the Atlantic Sun Tournament, and will begin play at 11 a.m., on Thursday, May 11.  The Lady Bucs are set to face second-seed and host school Florida Atlantic in the first round of the double-elimination competition.

The Lady Bucs will be looking to avenge a sweep by the Owls earlier this season, when FAU downed ETSU 7-2, and 12-1, on April 13, in Johnson City.  The winner of Thursday's game will meet the winner of the Campbell vs. Mercer game, as the loser will meet loser of the Campbell-Mercer contest.           

Riding a season-ending hot streak, the Lady Bucs recorded sweeps over top-seeded Stetson, Belmont and Lipscomb during the regular season, while splitting a series with Gardner-Webb.  The Lady Bucs have also reeled in a trio of A-Sun Awards with Amanda Haverman (Kirkwood, Mo.) garnering Player of the Week honors on April 25, and Stephanie Gaynord (Manassas, Va.) taking the award for the weeks of May 1, and May 8.

Freshman Mary Catherine Vercoe (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) also received A-Sun honors, earning a spot on the conference All-Freshmen Team. 

The winner of the championship tournament will be decided on Saturday, May 13, beginning at 12 p.m., a second game to follow if necessary.