Saturday
Houston 10, ECU 7
Houston took a 1-0 lead in the opening frame. With one out, sophomore center fielder Lindsey Stewart singled in the infield and stole second. Two batters later, Sarah Queen delivered her with a single to the shortstop. In the top of the second inning, the Cougars scored five more runs and tacked on another in the third. Having batted around in the second, Kelli Montgomery singled through the left side to leadoff the third. Maya Thomas followed with a bunt single. During the next at bat, Brooke Vannoy laid down a sacrifice bunt, but an error on the play allowed her to reach safely and Montgomery to score. Mariah Garcia plated Thomas one batter later with a groundout to make it 8-0. However, ECU homered in the bottom frame to make it 8-1. With the score at 9-2, ECU’s Meredith Burroughs belted a grand slam in the sixth, but Queen collected her third base hit of the game with a single into the right-center gap in the seventh. Aspen Howie followed with a single down the single down the left-field line to plate Queen and cap the scoring for the 10-7 final.
USF 8, UConn 2
USF defeated UConn, 8-2, to improve to 2-0 in The American. The Bulls got an early lead in the first inning with a pair of singles, and sophomore Brooke Hartman sealed the win with a 3-RBI shot over the center field fence in the bottom of the sixth. USF (24-13, 2-0) slammed nine hits for eight runs against UConn (13-18, 0-2) in the second game of the series. Hartman batted in the first run when she grounded out to the shortstop, and Lindsey Devitt hit an RBI single to left center for the second run of the first inning. The Bulls took a 4-0 lead after the second frame when senior Lauren Evans RBI singled, and made it home on a double by senior Astin Donovan.The Huskies put up one run on one hit and two errors in the third inning, and added another run in the fifth, but they couldn't catch the Bulls and Hartman topped off the victory with her home run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior Cheyenne Eggens struck out six batters in 6.1 innings allowing just three hits and three walks. She earned the win to improve to 6-1 on the season.
UCF 2, Tulsa 1
UCF softball starts American Athletic Conference play 2-0 after taking down the defending conference champion, Tulsa, 2-1 Saturday afternoon at the UCF Softball Complex capturing the series win. Kyra Klarkowski and Hayley Bejarano each drove in a run for the Knights as they move to 20-12 on the season. Alea White threw another complete game striking out five and giving up one earned run for her 15th win of the season. Tulsa struck first with a home run in the first inning for an early lead on the Knights, which would be the only run of the game for the visitors. The Black and Gold knotted the score 1-1 in the second after Klarkowski tripled to right field and was able to score of a Tulsa overthrow. In the third, the Knights tacked on a pair of hits when Denali Schappacher reached on a bunt followed by a single up the middle from Courtney Rotton.UCF secured the win in the fourth inning with Aubrey Johnson leading off with a single to right field. Jazmine Esparza laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Johnson into scoring position. With two outs and a 0-1 count, Bejarano singled down the right field line and Johnson came around to score.
Wichita State 11, Memphis 1
Laurie Derrico's three-run walk-off home run led the Wichita State softball team to an 11-1 run-rule victory over Memphis on Saturday afternoon at Wilkins Stadium. The Shockers move to 17-11 on the year, 1-1 in The American, with Bingham (2-3) getting the win. It didn't take long for the Shocker bats to come alive. After a three up, three down for the Wichita State defense, with Ryleigh Buck and Caitlin Bingham lacing RBI hits. In the bottom half the third, the Shockers added to their lead. Nickerson led off with a double to right field with Derrico singling through the right to get her home. Bingham drew a walk to get two on with Asea Webber doubling to get both Derrico and push the Shocker lead to 5-0. In the fifth inning the Shockers ended the game in style. Lange reached on a fielder's choice with Wright singling to get two on. Nickerson singled to get Lange home before Derrico crushed a three run home run to end the game via a run-rule.
Houston 11, ECU 0
Arielle James opened the game with a double into the right-center gap. Two batters later, Crumpton tripled down the right-field line and Queen singled up the middle to make it 2-0. Queen led off the fourth with a walk, and Howie reached on a fielder’s choice where no out was recorded to put two on. Montgomery followed, collecting her second double of the day with a one-hopper to the wall in left center to drive in Queen. Howie and Montgomery later scored on a throwing error to stake Houston out to a 5-0 lead. A Howie two-run homer made the lead 7-0 in the fifth, and the Cougars tacked on four more runs in the top of the sixth.