Saturday, April 29
Wichita State 8, Tulsa 2 – Box Score
Wichita State 17, Tulsa 2 – Box Score
UCF 8, Houston 2 – Box Score
East Carolina 4, NC State 1 – Box Score
NC State 4, East Carolina 2 – Box Score
Memphis at South Florida – Weather Delay
Recaps
Wichita State 8, Tulsa 2 – Box Score
Wichita State 17, Tulsa 2 – Box Score
TULSA, Okla. – No. 19 Wichita State secured its sixth straight conference series win with a pair of wins at Tulsa on Saturday, 17-2 and 8-2.
Wichita State (42-8, 15-2 The American) also clinched at least a share of the 2023 American Athletic Conference regular season title with the two wins. It marks the second regular season title in the last three years and fourth conference title in school history.
The 42 wins are the second-most in school history, trailing only the 2005 team at 46.
Sydney McKinney continued her climb up the NCAA all-time hits list, passing Kelly Kretschman for sixth place with 370 career hits.
Game 1
McKinney was responsible for nearly half of Wichita State's nine hits, going 4-for-5 with a double and three runs scored. Addison Barnard scored twice to go with a pair of bunt singles and Krystin Nelson singled twice in three at bats along with a couple of runs scored. Lauren Lucas walked a career-high four times to go with two RBI. Lauren Mills was 1-for-3 with an RBI and Sami Hood drove in two.
Alex Aguilar (14-2) recorded the win after throwing 4.0 innings before play was suspended. She allowed two runs on four hits and struck out three. Alison Cooper threw the final 3.0 innings of shutout relief on Saturday.
McKinney sparked a two-run top of the third with a leadoff double. Barnard laid down a bunt single and a throwing error on the play allowed McKinney to score. Barnard then stole second and advanced to third on another Tulsa error, and Lucas took advantage sending a deep fly ball to center, bringing Barnard in to make it 2-0.
Tulsa didn't waste any time in tying the game in the home half of the third. Three straight doubles with one out evened the game at 2-2.
Play was suspended in the top of the fifth due to rain with two Shockers on base and no outs. When the game resumed Saturday, Barnard laid down a perfect bunt single to immediately load the bases. A walk to Lucas and a sac fly from Zoe Jones put the Shockers back in front, 4-2. A sharp grounder off the bat of Sami Hood was too hot to handle for the Tulsa shortstop, allowing two more runs to come home, making it 6-2.
Wichita State upped the lead in the top of the sixth behind Mills' bases loaded walk and Hood's bases loaded hit by pitch.
Game 2
Lucas led the hit parade, going 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Barnard was 2-for-3 with a double, home run, two RBI and three runs scored. McKinney drove in a pair behind two singles, while scoring two more.
Zoe Jones drove in a game-high four runs behind a double and her third triple of the season. Sami Hood was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI. Taylor Sedlacek (home run) and Lainee Brown had a hit apiece, while scoring twice.
Lauren Howell (17-2) won her team-high 17th game in the circle behind a complete game. She struck out four, allowing two runs on only three hits.
Wichita State didn't waste any time putting runs on the board. Six runs came across in the top of the first behind a Barnard RBI double, Jones two-run triple, Hood RBI double and Sedlacek two-run home run.
It didn't get much better for Tulsa in the second, as Wichita State tacked on eight more. Barnard opened the frame with a monster solo home run, her 14th of the season and 69th career. With the bases then loaded, Hood drove in a run on a sac fly and Nelson drew a bases loaded walk. The final five runs of the inning were courtesy of a two-run single from McKinney, Lucas RBI single and Jones two-run double.
Another bases loaded walk for Nelson in the top of the third made it 15-0 and then Caroline Tallent upped the margin to 17-0 on a two-run double into the left-center gap.
Tulsa broke up the no hitter and shutout in the bottom of the third behind a two-run home run.
UCF 8, Houston 2 – Box Score
ORLANDO – Drawing the Saturday start less than 24 hours removed from Sarah Willis' historic perfect game Friday evening, fellow right-hander Grace Jewell took advantage of the opportunity her teammate presented to her.
Indeed they did. The UCF softball team produced at least seven runs for the second straight game to complement a strong seven-inning complete-game effort by Jewell, as the Knights clinched the series win over the visiting Houston Cougars, as well as their sixth straight win overall, with their 8-2 victory at the UCF softball complex Saturday afternoon.
The victory marked the second straight game that UCF's (32-19, 11-3 The American) starter went the distance after Willis' Friday perfecto, as well as Jewell's sixth complete game of the season, tying Willis' own mark of six for the team-lead.
The right-hander's effort also marked the 13th game in the Knights' last 14 overall since March 29 that saw UCF limit its opposition to two or fewer runs, a stretch during which the quartet of Jewell, Willis, Angelina DeVoe and Kaitlyn Felton have combined to post a 1.27 ERA (93.2 IP, 17 ER) with 61 strikeouts and a .164 batting average-against to lead their squad to a 13-1 record in that span.
UCF once again turned to its winning formula that has paid dividends for the team many times throughout the season, scoring early and often to take the pressure off its starter. After the Cougars (19-26, 6-8 The American) tagged Jewell for a run in the top of the first, the Knights quickly struck back in the form of a three-run double to right field by junior transfer Chloe Evans in the home half.
The three runs in the first inning Saturday, coupled with the Knights' one first-inning tally Friday evening, boosted the team's run output in the initial frame of games this season to an even 50, its highest-scoring of any inning thus far. By comparison, the 2023 Knights have nearly caught the 2022 squad's first-inning run total of 55, still with four regular-season games and the conference tournament on the horizon.
Evans' double also padded her already-team-leading RBI total, pushing her season sum to 41 with her 13th two-bagger of the season, one shy of tying Aubrey Evans for the team-lead in doubles.
The double extended her career-long hit streak to 11 games as well, the longest by a Knight this season. The right fielder is hitting a team-best .472/.512/.778 (17-for-36) during the streak, accompanied by seven extra-base hits, 15 RBI and 28 total bases.
After an Aubrey Evans sacrifice fly pushed UCF's lead to three runs in the second frame, first baseman Shannon Doherty slugged her team-best ninth home run of the season, and 29th of her career, off the left field foul pole, ballooning the Knights' advantage to 5-1 in the third inning.
With the 29th long ball of her career, Doherty pulled to within two of tying teammate Jada Cody (31) for third place on the UCF all-time home run list, and within one of becoming the fourth Knight in program history to achieve the 30-home run mark.
A pair of Houston errors made UCF's final three runs possible in the fifth inning, tallies that, once again, proved helpful but unnecessary for the Knights' starting pitcher.
After yielding the early tally, Jewell surrendered just one run on four hits through Houston's final six innings, including retiring nine of 10 hitters she faced between the second and fourth innings.
In throwing a career-high-tying seven innings for the fourth time this season, Jewell lowered her career-best ERA to 2.33 (111.1 IP, 37 ER) through 27 appearances (18 starts), building her season strikeout total to 66 while stifling her opposition to the tune of a .182 batting average-against.
East Carolina 4, NC State 1 – Box Score
NC State 4, East Carolina 2 – Box Score
RALEIGH, N.C. – The East Carolina softball team earned a split against NC State on Saturday afternoon, coming up short 4-2 in the first game before bouncing back to defeat the Wolfpack 4-1 in the second game at Dail Softball Stadium.
The Pirates (27-24, 3-12 The American) rebounded from only three hits in the first game with eight in the second contest behind Bailee Wilson's 2-for-4 performance at the plate with a two-run blast to center field and Joie Fittante's 2-for-2 outing off the bench. The Wolfpack (18-32, 6-15 ACC) struggled in the second game, allowing four ECU runs in the fourth inning and leaving five runners on base.
Game One: NC State 4, East Carolina 2
The Pirates jumped out to a strong start on offense with back-to-back hits from Taudrea Sinnie and Taylor Edwards and Bailee Wilson would plate the first run for the Purple and Gold on a sacrifice fly. The Wolfpack would tighten things up, retiring two of next three Pirates to end the inning.
After a scoreless second frame for both teams, ECU would stretch its lead to 2-0 on a double RBI from Jocelyn Alonso but NC State's homerun hitting offense would awaken in the bottom of the third as Amanda Hasler blasted a three-run shot to center field to take a 3-2 lead.
NC State would extend its lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth after Makayla Marbury hit a single to plate another Wolfpack run.
ECU would be unable to threaten in the final frame and the Wolfpack would take the first game of the doubleheader.
Jordan Hatch (12-11) surrendered four earned runs and walked four batters in the loss while Madison Inscoe (8-13) picked up the win with two strikeouts tossed in four innings and Aisha Weixlmann earned the save with only one hit allowed in three innings.
Game Two: East Carolina 4, NC State 1
Both teams would go scoreless in the first inning, but NC State would add the game's first run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single to gain the early momentum.
Entering the fourth inning, the Pirates would recapture the offensive success they enjoyed in the early portions of the first game as Wilson would hit a two-run homer to give ECU a 2-1 lead. ECU would add two more runs on the board after Fittante hit a two RBI double to extend the Pirates' advantage to 4-1. Addy Bullis would follow up the Pirates' offensive outburst with dominant pitching to retire three NC State batters in quick fashion.
The Pirates would look to add to their lead in the top of the fifth after Jocelyn Alonso reached on a Wolfpack error and subsequently advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Logan Sutton lined out to strand Alonso and end the inning. Bullis would retire three more Wolfpack batters to keep the Wolfpack at bay going into the sixth inning.
After walking the first Wolfpack batter of the seventh inning, Bullis would retire the next three batters to slam the door on NC State's chances at a comeback.
Bullis (14-10) pitched a complete game and tossed three strikeouts for the win and Rylee Wyman (2-9) gave up six hits and four runs in the loss.