May 6, 2012

2012 C-USA Championship Bracket

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Fresh off a 5-3 win on senior day against East Carolina, Memphis now will prepare for the Conference USA Championship in Birmingham, Ala. The Tigers will open the single-elimination tournament as the No. 7 seed and will face tournament host and No. 2 seeded UAB on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the UAB Softball Field.

"I think the girls are really excited," said Memphis head coach Natalie Poole. "We don't have school to worry about, and we don't have any other games to worry about. Our attention is going to be focused on the tournament. Our girls just want to get out and get another opportunity."

The winner between Memphis and UAB will play the winner between No. 3 Marshall and No. 6 East Carolina in the semifinals on Friday at 4:30 p.m. The C-USA Championship will be on Saturday at 1 p.m. and will be televised by the CBS Sports Network.

Memphis finished the regular season with a 20-36 overall record and went 8-16 in league play. The Tigers opened C-USA play at Birmingham in March and were swept by the Blazers in a three-game series. But all three games were decided by two runs or less with UAB winning 3-1, 4-3 and 2-0.

In fact, 11 of the Tigers' 16 conference losses have been decided by two runs or less and seven of the 11 were decided by a run.

This marks the second-straight season Memphis plays the tournament host in the opening round. Last year the No. 4 seeded Tigers faced No. 5 seed East Carolina in Greensville and lost 5-1. The Tigers are 3-6 all-time in the C-USA Championship and 3-2 in the opening game.

This marks the third time the U of M opens the tournament against UAB. Memphis is 1-1 against the Blazers in the tournament with an 8-6 victory in 2008 and an 11-5 loss in 2009.

UAB finished the season 36-19 and 17-7 in conference play. The Blazers finished one-game behind C-USA regular season champions, Tulsa. The second-place finish is the highest placing in UAB history.