The American Athletic Conference has moved the location of the 2022 softball conference tournament.
Originally set to be hosted by UCF, the AAC elected to move the tournament following UCF’s acceptance of an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference. Various reports confirmed on Monday that other championships set to be hosted by departing AAC members, have also seen those schools removed from hosting duties. That includes the AAC track and field and swimming & diving championships, which were set to be hosted by Houston.
Houston track and field coach Leroy Burrell took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with the news, which he said he found out via email. The AAC retweeted Burrell’s original message, adding the comment “The decision to relocate three 2022 championships was in accordance with longstanding conference bylaws that were agreed upon by all members – nothing more.”
Following UCF’s removal from hosting the ’22 softball championship, those duties will now fall to East Carolina and first-year head coach Shane Winkler. The Pirates will host the AAC conference tournament in Greenville in May; the tournament is set to run May 12-14, 2022 and will determine who receives the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
