TAMPA, Fla. – Kaitlyn Bearpaw's one-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning gave No. 4-seeded Tulsa a 3-2 win against No. 5-seeded Houston in the opening game of the 2023 American Athletic Conference Softball Championship Thursday morning at the USF Softball Stadium.
 
The Golden Hurricane (24-27) advances to face top-seeded Wichita State Friday at noon ET in the semifinal round.
 
Bearpaw drove in two of Tulsa's three runs as her sacrifice fly in the in the bottom of the fifth staked the Golden Hurricane to a 1-0 lead. She drilled the first pitch she saw in the seventh inning through the right side, allowing MacKenzie Denson to score from second to end the game.
 
Denson had led off the seventh with a grounder up the middle, and she moved into scoring position when she alertly stole second after the Cougars didn't account for the baserunner after a pitch to the next batter. That allowed Denson to race home ahead of the throw on Bearpaw's sharp grounder.
 
Tulsa had to rally for the win after Houston had taken a 2-1 lead thanks to some aggressive baserunning of its own. The Cougars led off the sixth with two walks and a hit batter to load the bases and scored twice on Ja'Nayiya Thomas' grounder to second.Tulsa second-baseman Abby Jones threw home to try for a force-out, but Turiya Coleman crossed the plate as the throw went high. Thomas, meanwhile, was hung up between first and second on the play, and pinch-runner Bella Farina broke for home during the rundown to put the Cougars ahead.
 
Tulsa tied it in the bottom of the sixth after Rylee Keith led off with a double to left-center and pinch-runner Kennedy Cramer scored from second after a Cougar throwing error on a sacrifice bunt.
 
Tulsa pitcher Maura Moore allowed only two hits and two runs, working around six walks to get the win and improve to 14-12 on the year. Houston pitcher Kenna Wilkey fell to 15-14 after she allowed three runs (two earned) and seven hits.
 
The latest information on the 2023 American Softball Championship can be found on the conference's Championship Central site.