|
BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
-----
|
From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
By Brian Bailey |
 |
Pirates of the
fairer sex hog the headlines
By
Brian Bailey
©2010 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
The women of East
Carolina have certainly
been in the spotlight of
late.
First, there was the
drama in naming a new
women’s basketball coach
at East Carolina. Wes
Moore took the job, got
to Greenville and did an
about face.
That opened the door for
Francis Marion coach
Heather Macy. Macy has a
great personality and is
passionate about the
game she coaches.
The women’s team had to
assemble twice that week
to meet two different
new coaches. As I stated
last week, Holland may
have hit a great shot
with
his hiring
“mulligan.”
The East Carolina
women’s golf team made a
valiant effort in the
NCAA East Regional golf
tournament at Ironwood
this weekend.
Two of the finest people
around were instrumental
in the event. Ironwood
golf professional John
LaMonica and ECU women’s
golf coach Kevin
Williams are flat out
two of the best guys
you’ll find anywhere.
LaMonica is one of the
classiest professionals
I’ve ever had the chance
to work with. He is so
organized and thorough
that there was no doubt
that this event would be
a success.
Ironwood was in perfect
shape to host such a
prestigious tournament.
Golf course
superintendent Danny Ray
Britt should also be
congratulated.
ECU women’s coach Kevin
Williams is also on my
all-time list of just
super people. If you
have a daughter who can
play golf, you couldn’t
go wrong in sending her
to East Carolina. That’s
probably the highest
compliment you could
ever give anyone. Kevin
is a class act.
I thought the photograph
that the Daily Reflector
ran on Sunday spoke
volumes. ECU senior Abby
Bools had just closed
out her career with a
three-under par 69,
which tied her
season-low round.
She missed making the
NCAA Championships as an
individual by just three
strokes. She finished
the last hole of her
career and gave Coach
Williams a big hug. The
picture simply dripped
with emotion.
Williams’ ladies fought
the good fight, but came
up just short of their
goal of advancing to the
National Championship as
one of the top eight
teams in the regional.
Tracey Kee and her
softball squad clinched
their first ever
Conference USA
championship over the
weekend.
Kee raised the bar on
the team’s schedule this
year. Playing some of
the nation’s top
programs is now paying
big dividends as ECU
heads to the postseason.
East Carolina started
the season just 2-7.
Three of those losses
were against Florida, a
team ranked third in the
nation. All three of
those losses were by a
single run.
Pitcher Toni Paisley has
been nothing short of
amazing. For the seventh
time this season,
Paisley was honored by
Conference USA as the
league’s pitcher of the
week.
Last week Paisley led
the Pirates to a 5-0
week with sweeps over
Elon and Memphis. She
went 3-0 and did not
allow a run in striking
out 30 batters. With the
three shutouts, Paisley
now leads the nation
with 19 shutouts this
season.
The softball squad will
play in a brand new
stadium next season,
which should really
provide a nice
recruiting edge for
Coach Kee.
Next up for the softball
Pirates is the
Conference USA
tournament. ECU heads to
Houston as the top seed.
The Pirates will play
eighth-seeded Southern
Miss on Thursday at 5:30
p.m. ET at the Cougar
Softball Stadium in
Houston. Just a couple
of weeks ago ECU shut
out the Golden Eagles in
three straight games.
Drew Steele Center on
Go!
The proposed Drew Steele
Center at Elm Street,
named after the son of
former ECU basketball
coach Mike Steele, is
now on go.
The Drew Steele/Skip
Holtz Golf Classic
raised $500,000 to build
the center for Eastern
North Carolina’s special
needs population.
Finally, the group was
awarded a matching grant
from the state of North
Carolina, giving the
project an even one
million dollars for
Phase I.
“We are obviously very
excited,” said the
former Pirate football
coach Holtz. “I have to
thank all of the folks
in Greenville who worked
so hard to make the
tournaments so
successful. I can’t wait
to see the name ‘Drew
Steele’ on that
building.”
There is no word yet on
when construction will
start. Holtz says he’d
love to come back for
the ribbon cutting when
the project is completed.
BB
E-mail
Brian Bailey.
Brian Bailey Archives
05/11/2010 03:59 AM |
Replay
Monday night's
Brian Bailey Show with guests DREW
STEELE, MIKE STEELE, SKIP HOLTZ
and TOMMY EASON. Eastern North Carolina's longest running sports
radio call-in show airs
each Monday night at 7
p.m. on Pirate Radio 1250-AM and 930-AM.