TAMPA, Fla. – Kailyn Bearpaw went 4-for-4 and Maura Moore allowed only one run in eight innings as No. 4-seeded Tulsa eliminated top-seeded Wichita State from the 2023 American Athletic Conference Softball Championship with a 2-1 semifinal win Friday afternoon at the USF Softball Stadium.
 
The win sends Tulsa (25-26) to The American Championship final for the first time since 2018. The Golden Hurricane will look for its fourth American title when it faces either South Florida or UCF Saturday at 11 a.m. ET.
 
Wichita State, which is ranked No. 20 in this week's coaches' poll, fell to 43-10.
 
Claira Skaggs drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth on a textbook sacrifice fly to left, bringing home Imani Edwards, who had led the inning off with a double to the gap in right-center. Bearpaw's fourth hit of the day, a chopper at the plate that stayed fair, put runners at the corners to set the table for Skaggs, whose fly ball to left allowed Edwards to score without a throw.
 
The Golden Hurricane needed to retire the top of the Shockers' potent lineup in the bottom of the eighth. Moore got two-time American Player of the Year Sydney McKinney on a soft line drive to short for the first out before Addison Barnard reached on a bunt single. 
 
Barnard was caught stealing for the second out of the eighth, but the Shockers put two runners on when Lauren Lucas roped a single to right and Zoe Jones was hit by a pitch. Moore retired Lauren Mills on the first pitch of the next at bat, however, as Haley Morgan snared Mills' fly ball to center to end the game.
 
Wichita State had put the potential winning run on in the bottom of the seventh inning when Bailey Urban drew a one-out walk. But Moore got Krystin Nelson on a flyout to center for the second out, and pinch-runner Siera Hoekstra was called out for leaving early on a stolen base attempt to end the inning.
 
Bearpaw accounted for four of Tulsa's seven hits in the game and has gone 5-for-6 in the Golden Hurricane's first two games of the tournament. Moore picked up her second win in as many games as she scattered five hits and allowed one run with two strikeouts and four walks in eight innings.
 
Lucas and Nelson had two hits each for Wichita State, which entered Friday's game with 166 extra-base hits, but was limited to five singles on the day. Pitcher Lauren Howell allowed seven hits and two runs with five strikeouts in eight innings for the Shockers.
 
Tulsa will make its fifth appearance in The American Championship final. The Golden Hurricane fell to UCF in the 2015 final before winning the tournament in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
 
The latest information on the 2023 American Softball Championship can be found on the conference's Championship Central site.