Wichita State 2, USF 0
Wichita State defeated the USF 2-0 on Friday to move into a tie for first in The American standings with two games of the regular season left. Bailey Lange's home run proved to be the game winner for the Shockers, as the junior also got the shutout win in the circle. Lange crushed a solo shot over the right field fence, her seventh home run of the season, in the second inning to give Wichita State the lead. The Shockers added to the lead on Asea Webber’s RBI single in the fifth. Lange surrendered just four hits and walked one with five strikeouts in the complete game win for the Shockers. Astin Donovan recorded her 17th multi hit game of the season for the Bulls, while Georgina Corrick fanned seven batters in 6.2 innings for USF in the loss.
Houston 4, Memphis 1
Houston team opened its American Athletic Conference series against Memphis with a 4-1 win on Friday night at Cougar Softball Stadium. With the win, the Cougars improve to 33-19 overall and 11-8 in The American, while the Tigers fall to 36-18 and 10-9. Sarah Queen made the most of her two-hit night, hitting a pair of solo home runs, her ninth and 10th of the season, in a 2-for-3 effort. Arielle James and Kaylin Crumpton each recorded RBI singles, going 1-for-2 and 1-for-3, respectively. In the circle, Savannah Heebner improved to 23-8. The native of Sedalia, Colo., scattered seven hits and one run while walking one and striking out eight. Overall, the victory is the 47th of Heebner’s career, tying her with Jamie Falco (2001-04) and Jenny Johnson (2001-04) for third all-time in program history. Brooke Lee put Memphis on the board in the top of the seventh with a solo home run to center field, but it proved to be the only run of the ball game for Memphis. Molly Smith was handed the loss against the Cougars and she falls to 24-8 on the year. Kyler Trosclair Klatt and Delaney Smith led Memphis with two hits each. The Tigers ultimately outhit Houston, 7-6.
UCF 3, ECU 1
UCF opened the final weekend of the regular season with a 3-1 victory over ECU on Friday night, as Cassady Brewer and Erin Emanuel each drove in runs for the Knights, while Denali Schappacher went 2-for-3 to extend her on-base streak to 11 games. Alea White picked up her 23rd win of the season giving up just six hits and one earned run on 117 pitches. The Knights went down 1-0 after the Pirates put up a run in the first drawing a bases-loaded walk, but that would be the only noise from ECU for the next six innings. UCF knotted the score, 1-1 in the bottom of the second after Emanuel’s RBI doubl to left center. UCF took the lead in the third, ignited by a Schappacher double before Brewer blasted a ball off the left field wall, driving in Schappacher, to give the Knights the 2-1 advantage. The Knights added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth after Brooke Barlow, Megan Greenwell, and Schappacher each delivered a single to load the bases. Brewer hit a hard chopper to second, and an ECU error allowed Barlow to cross the plate for the third run.
Tulsa 3, UConn 0
Emily Watson notched 11 strikeouts and picked up her seventh shutout of the season as Tulsa took game one of its three-game series against UConn, 3-0, on Friday night at Collins Family Softball Complex. It was the 12th time this season that Watson has notched double-digit strikeouts for the Golden Hurricane, while Morgan Neal went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Mikayla Whitten also had a pair of hits and scored a run. Katie Koshes took the loss for UConn after she allowed two earned runs and six hits to go along with four strikeouts. The Hurricane jumped ahead with runs in each of the first two innings. Julia Hollingsworth and Neal started the first with back-to-back singles and Hollingsworth would score from third on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Shelby Estocado. In the second, Tulsa worked some two-out magic and added to the lead with Neal's single to right for the 2-0 advantage. The cushion increased to 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth, when hits by Shannon Hughes and Whitten set up a sacrifice fly by Hollingsworth. The advantage was more than enough for Watson, who worked around a pair of infield hits to start the fifth inning. The senior would retire the next nine batters that she faced, four of which were strikeouts, to close out the game and move her record in the circle to 19-11 for the campaign.