Sunday, April 11
USF 2, Tulsa 1 (9)
The University of South Florida softball team earned a win in a resumed game from Saturday, 2-1, on Sunday morning. The game was paused yesterday in the fifth inning due to lightning in the area. Sunday's originally scheduled game was canceled.
Josie Foreman (West Palm Beach, Fla.) hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Bulls the win. Georgina Corrick (Sanford, Fla.) earned another complete-game victory, throwing all nine innings while only allowing five hits and one run.
Starting the game in the middle of the fifth inning, the pitching duel that had started on Saturday continued on Sunday. From the bottom of the fifth to the top of the ninth, both pitchers faced only one over the minimum. Foreman led off in the bottom of the ninth, and sent a 1-0 pitch over the left-field fence to seal the walk-off win for the Bulls.
With weather and lightning entering the area following the completion of the suspended game, the decision was made to cancel the originally scheduled game for Sunday. It will not be rescheduled.
Notables
Alexis Johns (Sarasota, Fla.) scored USF's first run on Saturday afternoon. Bethaney Keen (Bradenton, Fla.) drove her home with a single in the third inning.
Corrick threw her 13th complete game of the season and the 55th of her career.
Foreman's walk-off home run was the first since Jordyn Kadlub's against Jacksonville earlier this season.
No. 24 UCF 8, East Carolina 0
The bats came alive and Gianna Mancha was lights out in the circle in the series finale against ECU on Sunday as the No. 24 UCF softball team defeated the Pirates, 8-0, at Max R. Joyner Family Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina to sweep the series.
The Knights improved to 29-9 overall with a 9-3 mark in the American Athletic Conference.
Mancha was phenomenal in the circle for the Knights in the series finale, allowing just three hits en route to the seven-inning complete game shutout. She allowed a base runner to reach scoring position in just three innings. The win moves Mancha to 10-3 on the year.
Offensively, the Knights had 10 hits on the day to rally for eight unanswered runs. Two players had multi-hit days in Justene Molina, who batted leadoff for the first time this season, and Kaitlyn Jensen. Meanwhile, Juliana Wilson and Jazmine Esparza also had solid days at the plate, turning in two RBI each.
The Knights will next turn their attention to No. 5 Florida as UCF will travel to Gainesville on April 14 for their second showdown with the Gators this season. The Knights took down Florida at the UCF Softball Complex, 8-6, on March 24.
Key Moments
Kyra Klarkowski hit a sacrifice-fly in the top of the second to drive in a run and put UCF up 1-0.
The next batter, Jazmine Esparza, singled to right to drive in another and extend the Knights' lead to 2-0.
Later in the inning, an RBI groundout from Juliana Wilson would bring home another UCF run, making it a 3-0 game.
With runners on second and third and one away in the sixth, Esparza grounded out to drive in another run for the Knights to give them a 4-0 lead.
The next batter, Justene Molina, singled to center to drive in a run and put UCF up 5-0.
Juliana Wilson doubled to drive in Molina and put UCF up 6-0.
A Jada Cody RBI single in the seventh would give the Knights the 7-0 lead and an ECU error on the same play would allow another UCF runner to cross the plate, putting the black and gold up 8-0.
NOTABLES
With the win, UCF moves to 29-9, 9-3 on the year.
The win moves Mancha to 10-3 on the season.
The sweep marked UCF's second conference sweep of the season (Houston).
Wichita State 10, Houston 7
Wichita State put the finishing touches on its second straight American Athletic Conference series sweep with a 10-7 win over Houston Sunday afternoon at Wilkins Stadium.
Wichita State (28-5, 11-1) extended its winning streak to nine in a row, a season high. With the series sweep, the Shockers now sit alone in first place in the American standings through three weekends of play.
Bailey Lange got the ball to start in the circle, and threw 4.0 innings, allowing three runs on five hits. She walked two and struck out two in a no decision. Caitlin Bingham (6-1) pitched 3.0 innings in relief and recorded the win. Bingham allowed four runs on four hits to go with a pair of strikeouts.
Bailee Nickerson kick-started the offense on Sunday with her grand slam. She finished the day 2-for-3 with a career-high tying five RBI. Three other Shockers belted home runs on the day when the long ball proved to be the difference in the game.
Three walks in the bottom of the first set the stage for Nickerson to unload her first grand slam of the season to put the Shockers in front 4-0. The grand slam was the team's third of the series and fifth of the season.
Houston came back with a run in the top of the second to cut it to 4-1. The Cougars pulled within a run after manufacturing a pair of runs on an infield single in the top of the fourth. They would then tie it in the top of the fifth.
In the home half of the fifth, Wichita State struck back with four runs – the first coming on an RBI single from Nickerson. The very next batter, Lauren Mills, laced a missile over the right field fence to put the Shockers in front by three. Not to be outdone, Kaylee Huecker stepped in and drove a pitch over the center field fence to complete back-to-back home runs and giving the Shockers an 8-4 lead.
The Cougars would not go away, however. A walk and infield single followed by a two-base throwing error cut the lead back to three. With two outs and a runner on, Houston's Sarah Queen delivered a two-run home run, shrinking the lead to 8-7.
Addison Barnard crushed her 16th home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth to push the advantage back to two. Her 16 home runs are now tied for the most in a single season with Cacy Williams.
The Shockers would add their final run on Lauren Johnson scoring via wild pitch.