May 9, 2002

Box Score

TAMPA - In the first game of the C-USA Softball Tournament, No. 3 seed UAB rallied back in the fourth inning to earn a 2-1 victory over No. 6 seed East Carolina on Thursday at the USF Softball Complex. The Blazers improve to 37-20 on the season, while East Carolina falls to 38-25 overall.

In the first inning, the Pirates scored first with Beth Bridger notching a single to right field to send Kristen Johnson home.

After going scoreless for three innings, UAB rallied back in the fourth when Sara Christophel posted a single to the shortstop. She would score off a Kai Paul homer to give the Blazers a 2-1 lead.

Offensively, Paul led the Blazers, batting 1-for-2 and notching her sixth home run of the season. UAB's Megan Stephenson struck out six, while giving up only eight hits to improve to 15-10 on the season.

East Carolina's Nicole Bacon was solid in the first four innings, before giving up the winning home run in the fourth inning. The first-team All-Conference honoree struck out four, while giving up only eight hits in six innings pitched.

"Kai had an awesome game this morning," said Head Coach Marla Townsend. "After her two-run homerun in the fourth inning, she had an outstanding defensive play which could have put us in a tough situation. Kai stepped it up and came through when we needed her."

UAB will advance to the second round where it will take on No. 2 seed Southern Miss on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. (ET). East Carolina falls to the loser bracket and will face the loser of the Louisville/DePaul game on Friday at 10:30 a.m. (ET).