No. 20/20 Tulsa to Open 2018 Season This Weekend

Tournament Notes

TULSA, Okla. – The University of Tulsa softball team will open up the 2018 season this weekend at the Cowgirl Classic in Lake Charles, La., beginning with a Friday matchup with Virginia at 3:30 p.m.

The No. 20/20 Golden Hurricane also will face host McNeese State, who received votes in the preseason USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, at 6 p.m. on Friday night. Tulsa will face Houston Baptist and McNeese State on Saturday before concluding play on Sunday against the Huskies.

Tournament Schedule
Friday
3:30 p.m. – Tulsa vs. Virginia - Stats/Video
6 p.m. – Tulsa vs. McNeese State - Stats/Video

Saturday
12:30 p.m. – Tulsa vs. Houston Baptist - Stats/Video
5:30 p.m. – Tulsa vs. McNeese State - Stats/Video

Sunday
10 a.m. – Tulsa vs. Houston Baptist - Stats/Video

TU to Open 26th Season at Cowgirl Classic
• Tulsa will open its 26th season of play at the Cowgirl Classic, Feb. 9-11, in Lake Charles, La.
• The Golden Hurricane will take on Virginia, Houston Baptist and host McNeese State.
• TU is 5-0 all-time against the field with a 3-0 mark against McNeese State and 2-0 record versus Virginia. This will be the first meeting between Tulsa and Houston Baptist.
• Tulsa is 14-11 all-time in season openers, including a 9-3 record under head coach John Bargfledt.

In the Rankings
• Tulsa will begin the 2018 season ranked 20th in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches and ESPN.com/USA Softball polls.
• TU closed the 2017 campaign ranked No. 22 in both polls after going 41-17 and winning the American Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles.
• This is the first time that TU will begin the season ranked in both polls since 2015, when it opened the campaign No. 21 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and No. 22 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll.

Look Who's Back
• Tulsa returns 13 letterwinners, including six position starters, the designated player and three pitchers, from last year's team which went 41-17 and won its first American Athletic Conference regular-season title with a 15-3 league mark.
• The TU offense will bring back all of its home runs, 79.3-percent of its extra-base hits, 76-percent of its runs scored, 74.3-percent of its RBIs and 71.1-percent of its hits from last year's squad.
• The lineup will see the return of NFCA All-Region picks Julia Hollingsworth (OF) and Haley Meinen (DP), while the pitching staff will see the return of second-team NFCA All-American Emily Watson.

It's Elementary, Watson
• The Golden Hurricane pitching staff will once again be anchored by NFCA All-American Emily Watson. The senior nearly set a program single-season record with 348 strikeouts, while her 14 shutouts set a new program standard and led the nation last season.
• Watson also set single-season records with 30 wins, 36 starts, 29 complete games and 246.2 innings pitched.
• The senior was recently announced as one of 50 players across the nation on the "Watch List" for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award.

The Schedule
• Tulsa's 2018 schedule will see the team play 10 games against teams that participated in the NCAA Tournament a season ago, beginning with a pair of games against McNeese State this weekend.
• The schedule also will have the Hurricane matched-up with teams that will start the season either ranked or recieving votes. McNeese State is receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, while TU also will face No. 1/1 Oklahoma (April 17), No. 6/9 Texas A&M (Feb. 16-17) and No. 24/21 Oklahoma State (March 21, April 4).
• Meanwhile, Texas State (Feb. 24) and St. Francis (Pa.) (March 17) also are receiving votes to start the season.

Tulsa Picked to Repeat as American Athletic Conference Champs
• Tulsa garnered six first-place votes and the squad was picked to repeat as American Athletic Conference champions by the league's coaches.
• TU earned 48 points in the poll, while Houston picked up a pair of first-place nods and 44 points to rank second.
• The duo was followed by USF, UCF, Wichita State, Memphis, UConn and ECU.
• Last season, TU won both the regular-season and tournament titles, sweeping those championships for the first time since 2014 when the Hurricane accomplished the feat in its final season as a member of Conference USA.

TU Success Under Coach Bargfeldt
• Now in his 13th season at Tulsa, head coach John Bargfeldt is the program's longest-tenured head coach and has the most wins and highest winning percentage in school history.
• Prior to Bargfeldt's arrival, the program had just four winning seasons in 13 years and did not win a conference title or appear in an NCAA Regional.
• Since his hiring prior to the 2006 season, the Golden Hurricane has had a winning record in all 12 campaigns with six regular-season and six conference tournament titles. In addition, TU has advanced to nine NCAA Regionals, including a spot in the postseason for six of the last seven years.

Up Next
• Tulsa will face Iowa, Butler and host No. 6/9 Texas A&M, Feb. 16-18, at the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, Texas.

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No. 20/20 Tulsa to Open 2018 Season This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Julia Hollingsworth

Emily Watson