Friday, February 24
Beaumont, Texas
10:00 am
Tulsa
5-6
11
vs
1
Alabama A&M
3-8
1
2
3
4
5
R
H
E
Alabama A&M
1
0
0
0
0
1
4
3
Tulsa
8
1
2
0
X
11
9
1
Early Offense Guides Tulsa Over Alabama A&M and McNeese
2/24/2017 8:24:00 PM | Softball
Game 1 PDF Box | Game 1 HTML Box | Game 2 PDF Box | Game 2 HTML Box | Season Stats
BEAUMONT, Texas – The University of Tulsa Softball team drove in runs early in both matchups on day one of the Cardinal Classic, plating eight in the opening frame against Alabama A&M in an 11-1 win before scoring two in the first in a wire-to-wire 5-2 win over McNeese State. Junior pitcher Emily Watson tossed 6.0 innings of one-hit softball in game two while striking out a season-high 10 batters.
Nine different Golden Hurricane (6-6 overall) batters drove in runs against the Aggies (3-8 overall) as Tulsa batted through the order in the opening frame, plating eight runs on five hits.
Six Tulsa players recorded RBIs in the first, beginning with a Maddie Withee RBI on a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game up at 1-1 after the Aggies plated one in their first at-bat. Shannon Hughes followed two batters later with a sacrifice fly of her own, this one to right field to put Tulsa ahead 3-1.
With two outs in the first, Tulsa put together five more runs as Tori Stafford and Kelsey Eropkin tallied consecutive RBI base knocks before Julia Hollingsworth drove in two on a RBI single up the middle. Hollingsworth finished the game one for one at the plate while earning two walks and scoring three runs. Maggie Withee added the final Tulsa run in the first inning via a RBI single as the Hurricane went ahead 8-1.
Rylie Spell became the seventh Tulsa hitter to record her first RBI of the season as she drove in Maddie Withee on a double in the bottom of the second inning. Shelby Estocado and Morgan Neal added to the lead in the third with run-scoring singles to put the Hurricane up 11-1.
Haley Meinen earned the win in the circle for Tulsa to move to 2-0 on the season, giving up just one unearned run before Madison Higley saw her first collegiate action in the fourth inning to close out the game.
Watson took advantage of a 2-0 cushion in game two against McNeese State (6-9 overall), retiring the first nine Cowgirl batters while holding them without a hit for the first 4.1 innings of play on her way to improving to 4-2 on the year.
The Tulsa offense put two on the scoreboard in the opening inning, beginning with a Hollingsworth inside the park home run to left field. The sophomore picked up her fourth RBI of the day with two outs in the sixth after a Tori Stafford RBI single, bringing home a run to put Tulsa up 5-0.
Neal racked up her third hit of the game and fifth of the day in the top of the sixth inning as she finished 5-7 at the plate over the two games.
McNeese State opened up the bottom of the seventh with consecutive hits, the second a two-run home run to cut the Tulsa lead down to three before Watson closed out the night with
Tulsa continues play at the Cardinal Classic tomorrow afternoon as they take on Northern Illinois at 2:30 p.m. and Kansas at 7 p.m.
Follow Tulsa Softball on Twitter (www.twitter.com/TulsaSoftball) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/TulsaWSoftball). Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane.
BEAUMONT, Texas – The University of Tulsa Softball team drove in runs early in both matchups on day one of the Cardinal Classic, plating eight in the opening frame against Alabama A&M in an 11-1 win before scoring two in the first in a wire-to-wire 5-2 win over McNeese State. Junior pitcher Emily Watson tossed 6.0 innings of one-hit softball in game two while striking out a season-high 10 batters.
Nine different Golden Hurricane (6-6 overall) batters drove in runs against the Aggies (3-8 overall) as Tulsa batted through the order in the opening frame, plating eight runs on five hits.
Six Tulsa players recorded RBIs in the first, beginning with a Maddie Withee RBI on a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game up at 1-1 after the Aggies plated one in their first at-bat. Shannon Hughes followed two batters later with a sacrifice fly of her own, this one to right field to put Tulsa ahead 3-1.
With two outs in the first, Tulsa put together five more runs as Tori Stafford and Kelsey Eropkin tallied consecutive RBI base knocks before Julia Hollingsworth drove in two on a RBI single up the middle. Hollingsworth finished the game one for one at the plate while earning two walks and scoring three runs. Maggie Withee added the final Tulsa run in the first inning via a RBI single as the Hurricane went ahead 8-1.
Rylie Spell became the seventh Tulsa hitter to record her first RBI of the season as she drove in Maddie Withee on a double in the bottom of the second inning. Shelby Estocado and Morgan Neal added to the lead in the third with run-scoring singles to put the Hurricane up 11-1.
Haley Meinen earned the win in the circle for Tulsa to move to 2-0 on the season, giving up just one unearned run before Madison Higley saw her first collegiate action in the fourth inning to close out the game.
Watson took advantage of a 2-0 cushion in game two against McNeese State (6-9 overall), retiring the first nine Cowgirl batters while holding them without a hit for the first 4.1 innings of play on her way to improving to 4-2 on the year.
The Tulsa offense put two on the scoreboard in the opening inning, beginning with a Hollingsworth inside the park home run to left field. The sophomore picked up her fourth RBI of the day with two outs in the sixth after a Tori Stafford RBI single, bringing home a run to put Tulsa up 5-0.
Neal racked up her third hit of the game and fifth of the day in the top of the sixth inning as she finished 5-7 at the plate over the two games.
McNeese State opened up the bottom of the seventh with consecutive hits, the second a two-run home run to cut the Tulsa lead down to three before Watson closed out the night with
Tulsa continues play at the Cardinal Classic tomorrow afternoon as they take on Northern Illinois at 2:30 p.m. and Kansas at 7 p.m.
Follow Tulsa Softball on Twitter (www.twitter.com/TulsaSoftball) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/TulsaWSoftball). Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Meinen, Haley (2-0)
L: R. Sanders (0-1)
Batting:
2B: A. Smith 1
RBI: A. Smith 1
SH: D. Hansell 1 ; T. Sanders 1
Base Running:
RUNS: T.Barbadillo 1
Batting:
2B: Spell, Rylie 1
RBI: Hollingsworth, Julia 2 ; Withee, Maggie 1 ; Estocado, Shelby 1 ; Withee, Maddie 1 ; Neal, Morgan 1 ; Hughes, Shannon 1 ; Spell, Rylie 1 ; Stafford, Tori 1 ; Eropkin, Kelsey 1
SF: Withee, Maddie 1 ; Hughes, Shannon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hollingsworth, Julia 3 ; Withee, Maggie 1 ; Estocado, Shelby 2 ; Neal, Morgan 1 ; Hughes, Shannon 1 ; Spell, Rylie 1 ; Stafford, Tori 1 ; Eropkin, Kelsey 1
SB: Eropkin, Kelsey 1
CS: Neal, Morgan 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
1
R
3
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
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IF/OF
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IF/OF
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C
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IF
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OF/C
/ SoftballIF
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