To win the Conference USA tournament title, the ECU softball team is going have to do something it hasn't done all year long — most likely, twice.

The Pirates (35-27, 10-12 C-USA) are the No. 5 seed for the tourney, and will take on No. 4 Marshall in the nightcap of today's first-round games at 9 p.m. The tournament is being held at University of Houston's Cougar Stadium.

Marshall (26-28, 11-11) is one of two teams in C-USA that the ECU did not get a win against during the regular season. C-USA regular season champion Houston is the other.

The Thundering Herd swept a doubleheader from the Pirates in Greenville on April 6 — losing 6-3 and 5-3. The third game of the teams' series was rained out.

"The team, just like the coaches, are looking forward to Marshall," coach Tracey Kee said. "We just weren't firing on all cylinders when we played them."

Marshall, which has won 14 of its last 19 games, is led by senior Rachel Folden. The utility player is hitting .433 with 17 home runs and 32 RBIs.

"I feel that Marshall came in here, we had a rainout, and then they caught us by surprise," senior left fielder Stacey Andrews said. "We owe something to them. We definitely feel we can hold our ground with them.

"I just feel like we kind of got cheated out of those games and we have something to prove against them."

ECU's Brooke Swann will take the mound for the Pirates. The senior is 23-18 on the season with a 3.24 ERA. She has struck out 164 batters and has 27 complete games. Marshall will throw either Autumn Mitchell (10-5, 2.50) or Caitlyn Jackson (13-16, 3.66). Both notched a win over the Pirates this season.

A victory tonight would most likely send the Pirates up against No. 1 seed Houston on Friday. The Cougars edged the Pirates 1-0 in last year's championship game. The No. 1 seeded Cougars (48-8, 21-2) will take on the winner of the 10 a.m. game between No. 9 Memphis and No. 8 UAB.

ECU was swept in a three-game series in Houston in April by a combined score of 29-2.

Kee said her team is confident heading into the three-day tourney.

"We have one of the best offenses in the conference," Kee said. "We have one of the best defenses. If we can get some steady pitching, and come up with some timely hits, I think we can make some noise."

The championship game will be held Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on the CBS College Sports Network.