As the
old saying goes, “that’s why they play the game.” After all, it’s
the unpredictability that makes sports great. Maybe more than
ever, this past week in ECU sports personified the cliché.
What a night for ECU basketball on Saturday. Senior Night took on
a whole new meaning at Minges Coliseum as East Carolina said good-bye
to lone Senior Courtney Captain. East Carolina hadn’t won on
Senior Night since the ‘03-‘04 season, and hadn’t won a Division One
contest since November. That all changed on a magical Saturday
night in Greenville.
It was destined to be Courtney Captain’s night as he played his final
home game as a Pirate. In front of an impressive crowd of more
than 5,500, Captain took control early hitting four thee-pointers
within the first five minutes. Captain’s hot shooting netted him
a career high 24 points by halftime, and gave the Pirates an 11-point
halftime advantage. East Carolina would allow UTEP to
get back in the game in the second half, setting up a storybook
ending. Down two points with less than 30 seconds to play, East
Carolina had one more chance. Courtney Captain had been the focus of
the UTEP defense in the second half, and had only two points since
halftime before he drained the biggest shot of his career.
Captain hit a go-ahead three-pointer with eight seconds to play, and
one final defensive stand was enough for ECU to win over UTEP 79-78 on
Senior Night.
Continuing the basketball theme, I don’t think anyone could have
predicted the success of the ECU Lady Pirates. Coach Sharon
Baldwin-Tener’s team (16-13, 11-5) won its final seven regular season
games, vaulting themselves into third place in the league
standings. As one of the top four seeds, the Pirates have earned
their first ever bye in the first round of the conference
tournament. The seven straight wins included a win over league
regular season champion Tulane. Good luck to the Lady Pirates in
the conference tournament beginning March 1st.
The ECU hockey team has seen a quick rise to success. In their
inaugural season last year, the ice hockey Pirates went to the
championship round of the conference tournament. The Pirates went
on to dominate the league in this their second year, winning the
regular season championship with a 14-1 league record. The
Pirates had the benefit of a first round bye in this year’s conference
tournament, and looked forward to Appalachian State in the tournament
semifinals, a team the Pirates beat twice this year. When the
Pirates found out that Appalachian State would be their opponent after
they beat Clemson in the opening round, a berth in the championship
game seemed a mere formality. It wasn’t. East Carolina lost
to ASU 5-2, ending their season in disappointing fashion.
The ECU baseball team also turned things around with a sweep at this
weekend's ECU invitational. The Pirates beat St. Johns,
Washington, and previously unbeaten Duke and in doing so, got the
season back on track. Another test awaits at next weekend's Keith
LeClair Classic. ECU will face Pepperdine, NC State, and Western
Carolina at the round-robin style tournament starting March 2nd.
It was a wild, wacky, sometimes backwards weekend in ECU sports. It
just goes to show that no matter what the records are, no matter what
the predictions or the experts say, none of that accounts for heart,
determination, and the will to win. And as they say, “that’s why
they play the game.”
