Virginia Beach, Va., April 30, 2010 - The defending MEAC Softball Champion Florida A&M Lady Rattlers will face interstate rival Bethune-Cookman during a nationally televised broadcast, Friday, April 30 at the FAMU softball complex. The game will be carried live on ESPNU beginning at 2:30 p.m.
The broadcast marks the fifth consecutive season the MEAC has televised a softball game on the college sports network.
The defending MEAC tournament champion FAMU Lady Rattlers are currently 3-3 in conference play and are ranked third in the MEAC southern divisional standings. FAMU is 23-20 overall and is led by 18-year head coach Veronica Wiggins who recorded her 550th career win with a 12-5 victory over North Carolina A&T on April 17.
The Bethune-Cookman Lady Wildcats enter Friday's matchup with a 4-2 MEAC record and 23-21 overall mark. B-CU sits in second place of the MEAC south and defeated non-conference foe North Florida 6-3 in their last outing. B-CU is led by pitcher Allison Garcia and the conference's current Player of the Week, second basemen Cesley Tafoya. Garcia, who earned second-team All-MEAC honors last season, was named to the MEAC's preseason team to start the 2010 campaign. Tafoya led the Lady Wildcats to a 1-1 finish last week with a .333 batting average including two home runs and seven RBI to seal conference accolades.
Major League Baseball great Dave Parker will throw out the ceremonial first pitch to start the game. Parker is the father of a graduating FAMU public relations student, Dorian Parker.
The 2010 MEAC Softball Championship is slated for May 13-15 at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex, 700 Hull Road, in Ormond Beach, Florida. The top four teams in both divisions will challenge one another in a double elimination tournament for the conference title.
About ESPNU
ESPNU launched March 4, 2005. The 24-hour college sports television network televises more than 550 live events annually, including college football, college basketball and Olympic sports from more than 25 Division I conferences, as well as premier high school content. The network also has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA for enhanced coverage of 22 NCAA Championships.
ESPNU also offers comprehensive studio programming, including live simulcasts of ESPN Radio's The Herd with Colin Cowherd, and replays the best games of the week from ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Regional Television. The brand is also available in high definition on ESPNU HD and online at ESPNU.com. In addition, ESPNU Campus Connection, a multi-platform student-generated content initiative, was introduced in August 2007.
ESPNU is available in more than 68.5 million households and has long-term carriage agreements with nine of the top 10 providers - Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV (Channel 614), DISH Network (Channel 148), Mediacom, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV and AT&T U-verse.