Thursday, April 6
Houston 4, East Carolina 3 – Box Score
South Florida 7, Tulsa 0 – Box Score
Wichita State 20, Memphis 0 – Box Score
Recaps
Houston 4, East Carolina 3 – Box Score
HOUSTON – The University of Houston softball team remained undefeated in conference play as three home runs powered the Cougars to a 4-3 win over the East Carolina Pirates on a rainy Thursday afternoon at Cougar Softball Stadium.
Graduate student Kenna Wilkey (12-7) tied her career high with 13 strikeouts, bringing her career total to 502 as part of her ninth complete game this season for Houston (17-17, 4-0 The American). Addy Bullis (13-7) earned the decision for East Carolina (22-16, 0-7 The American) behind a four-hit complete game.
Houston's trio of homers set a new single-game best for the squad and was the most since hitting five at Tulsa on March 26, 2022. It was the sixth multi-home run game for the team this season, with Bree Cantu and Turiya Coleman's back-to-back blasts in the first inning marking the second time Houston has clubbed consecutive home runs this season.
South Florida 7, Tulsa 0 – Box Score
TAMPA – The University of South Florida softball team (23-18, 4-3 The American) shutout the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (16-18, 2-2 The American) behind home runs from Vivian Ponn and Kathy Garcia-Soto. The Bulls won 7-0.
In the third inning, Ponn stepped up to the plate with one runner on. After two pitches, she knocked her second home run of the season to double South Florida's score, 4-0. Earlier in the inning, Emilee Hanlon scored on a groundout.
Two singles in the sixth inning from Allana Consolazio and Megan Pierro set the game up for Garcia-Soto. With a full-count, she sent the ball over the right-field wall to score the final three runs.
The Bulls first run came in the opening frame when Ponn reached on a fielder's choice and Garcia-Soto scored.
Gabriella Nori pitched her fourth complete game of the season. After going through the lineup once, she had retired four batters. Nori finished the game with five strikeouts, bringing her season total to 60.
Wichita State 20, Memphis 0 – Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – No. 22 Wichita State scored all 20 of its runs in the final three innings of a 20-0 run-rule at Memphis Thursday night.
Wichita State (32-7, 6-1 The American) ran its win streak to eight in a row and has now won 12 straight in the series with the Tigers. The Shockers have outscored the Tigers 85-4 over the last five meetings.
Wichita State recorded its ninth shutout of the season behind 14 hits and five Memphis errors. The 20 runs tied for the third most in school history.
Five Shockers recorded multiple hits, including 2-for-3 nights at the top of the order from Sydney McKinney and Addison Barnard. McKinney scored four times, drove in a career-high tying four runs, tripled and singled. Her triple runs her season total to seven. Barnard singled, homered, stole a base and had five RBI.
Lauren Mills had three RBI behind a pair of singles. Sami Hood went 2-for-3 with a double, home run and an RBI. Lainee Brown singled twice to go with an RBI and two runs. Lauren Lucas and Bailey Urban each recorded a single and an RBI. Caroline Tallent doubled and tallied one RBI. Siera Hoekstra recorded her first career hit and RBI in the contest.
Alex Aguilar (8-2) picked up her team-leading fifth complete game shutout of the season. She allowed just three hits and one walk in 5.0 innings, while striking out three.
After two scoreless innings at the plate, Wichita State finally broke through in the third. The Shockers put up eight runs, all with two outs. The rally started with Tallent's pinch-hit double, and immediately turned into a pair of runs on Mills' single to left. A Hood double and a Memphis error resulted in a run to make it 3-0.
Brown upped the margin on an RBI single to center, McKinney drew a bases loaded walk and Barnard smacked a two-run single off the wall in left to increase the lead to 7-0. The final run came across on another bases loaded walk for Tallent.
Wichita State hung another crooked number in the top of the fourth. The first of five runs came on a leadoff solo shot from Hood, her fifth of the season. An RBI single from McKinney, followed by a monster three-run home run from Barnard made it 13-0.
The final blitz came in the top of the fifth where the Shockers scored seven. A Memphis error on a Camryn Compton grounder led to the first run. McKinney laced a two-run triple into the right-center gap, Lucas dropped an RBI single down the left field line and Mills smoked an RBI single to the wall in right to put the Shockers up by 18.
Hoekstra's first career hit, an RBI single up the middle, and Urban's RBI single put the finishing touches on the series opener.