GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — A familiar face and someone who knows Max R. Joyner Family Stadium quite well will be returning to Greenville this weekend.
Courtney Oliver, former ECU softball head coach, will be traveling with the Houston Cougars, where she is now the associate head coach. Oliver was the head coach of the Pirates from the 2015-16 season until May of 2021, when she resigned. She collected a 125-166 overall record during her tenure, with a 29-73 record in AAC play.
During her time at ECU, she led three Pirates to All-AAC honors, and in 2018 picked up the 22nd-ranked recruiting class. ECU also hit a school and AAC single-season record of 64 home runs to go along with 64 doubles.
Following a midweek victory at N.C. Central, East Carolina will jump right into another AAC three-game home series against Houston. The Pirates (19-18, 2-4 AAC) recorded a season-high 18 hits in the 13-8 victory over the Eagles. All five ECU pitchers threw at least one inning and combined for a season-best 10 strikeouts.
East Carolina is fifth in the AAC standings, third among in-conference teams in batting average, and fourth in earned run average.
The Cougars (20-16-1) are 4-1-1 in conference play this season, sweeping a home series with Memphis last weekend after going 1-1-1 against Tulsa on the road March 25-27 to open their AAC schedule. Amanda Carden and Becca Schulte pace the offensive efforts with respective .336 and .323 batting averages.
Schulte has also hit a team-high 11 home runs and has scored a squad-best 28 runs. In the circle, Hannah Todd sports a 7-5 record and 2.42 ERA with 43 strikeouts and 34 walks in 75.1 innings of work. She picked up all three wins in the Memphis series.
Houston leads the all-time series against the Pirates by a 42-20 margin, winning eight of their last 10 meetings.
