TAMPA, Fla. (March 4, 2007) ? University of South Florida softball pitcher Cristi Ecks tossed a three-hit shutout and surpassed the 280 strikeout mark Sunday night in a 3-0 win over Central Michigan University in the final game of the USF Louisville Slugger Tournament.

The Bulls record improves to 14-7 with the win, while the Chippewas drops to 2-8.

Ecks recorded her second complete-game shutout victory of the year and improved her record to 5-2. Her performance in the circle was dominant for the Bulls, striking out 10 batters while only walking one. With her 10 Ks on the night, the sophomore improves her career total to 283. The Manassas, Va., native had a one hitter going until the seventh inning when she gave up consecutive singles, but she rebounded and struck out the final two batters to close out the game.

USF scored its first run of the day in the top of the third, putting together a two-out rally. With the bases loaded, Courtney Mosch drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single to left field.

In the top of the seventh inning, sophomore Britta Giddens added two insurance runs to the Bulls lead. After Ashley Bullion singled to left field, Giddens hit her first home run of the year ? a two-run blast to left field.

The Bulls recorded a total of 10 hits against CMU starting pitcher Ali Pettit, who was credited with the seven-inning loss.

Three USF players posted multi-hit games against the Chippewas. Bullion was 2-for-2 and scored two runs, while Mosch had a 2-for-3 outing and Danielle Urbanik batted 2-for-4 on the night.

The softball team will resume action on Tuesday at 5 p.m. when it hosts Robert Morris.