Tulsa
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UTEP
TULSA IS C-USA SOFTBALL CHAMPIONS
5/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 9, 2009
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| Highlights 
EL PASO, Texas - The University of Tulsa softball team won the 2009 Conference USA Championship presented by Helen of Troy with an 11-3 win over UTEP Sunday afternoon at Helen of Troy Field.
With a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning, top-seeded TU scored seven runs in that frame to put the game away. Junior right fielder Lauren Lindsay was named tournament MVP and tied a C-USA tournament record with nine hits on the weekend. Junior Jackie Lawrence (20-4) earned her third win of the tournament to lead the Golden Hurricane. Freshman center fielder Jessica Stoelke singled home senior left fielder Brooke Smart to give the Hurricane an 11-3 lead and end the game by run rule.
For the second straight season and third time overall, Tulsa (38-15) advances to the NCAA Regional. The regional selection show will be Sunday, May 10 at 9 p.m. CDT, and will be televised by ESPNU.
Lindsay and Lawrence were named to the all-tournament team, along with senior Kailey Yarmer and junior Vanessa Vice on the infield.
In the championship game, Lindsay was 4-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Sophomore designated player Lauren Menke hit a two-run home run, Yarmer was 2-for4 with two RBI, and Smart was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and a two-RBI single in the sixth inning. Freshman second baseman Skylar Swanson was also 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs.
"These seniors came in with a bang and they go out with this bang," said Tulsa Head Coach John Bargfeldt, referencing TU's regular season and tournament championships in 2006. "Kudos to that class for the leadership. Not only their leadership, but they stepped up. They were the ones that were hitting rockets out there for us this weekend, and last weekend too. So kudos to them and kudos to the fact that our motto at the beginning of the year was `The Best is Yet to Come.' That's what we're aiming for now."
The Golden Hurricane has now won 10 straight games, 17 of its last 19 overall and 13 in a row against C-USA competition.
When Tulsa clinched the regular season title last Sunday with a win over Southern Miss, the players and coaches were excited, but one got a sense that the team did not feel all business was accomplished. Sunday, the team accomplished another of its major goals this season by winning the C-USA Championship title and advancing to the NCAA Regionals.
The game was scoreless for the first two innings, but UTEP hardly went down quietly. In the second, Smart rifled the ball from left field to catch Miner starter Stacie Townsend at the plate. Townsend led off with a single and was sacrificed to second base. With two outs, UTEP nine-hole hitter Courtney Ware singled to left field. Townsend charged from second base trying to score, but Smart threw a perfect strike to Christian Timmons who applied the tag.
UTEP first baseman Camilla Carrera hit a two-run home run in the top of the third to give the Miners a 2-0 lead. However, Tulsa answered with two of its own in the bottom half of the inning with Menke's homer. Lindsay swatted her second hit of the game and second for the team through the right side to set up the shot.
Once again, as it has done all season, Tulsa had immediately answered an opponent's punch with a right hook of its own, and did so with two outs.
UTEP's third run came in the fourth inning, a solo home run by right fielder Ashley Ellis, to give the Miners a 3-2 lead. UTEP also loaded the bases after the leadoff homer, with two walks sandwiched around a single. However, after the first walk, Lawrence got a strikeout and a ground out to get out of the bases-loaded jam.
"What was so amazing was how we fought back (after giving up home runs twice)," Bargfeldt said. "We give up two and we get two. Menke comes up with a big home run there to get back even. Then we got even again (later in the game). I can't say enough about the determination of the girls on our team. They don't get overanxious. They take pitchers' pitches and look to attack hitters. When they're doing that, we look awfully good."
The Golden Hurricane took the lead again in the fifth inning. Swanson led off with a single to left field and moved to second when the ball scooted through the left fielder's legs. She scored on Lindsay's ground ball double to right center. Yarmer and Vice hit back-to-back one-out singles, the second driving home Lindsay to give TU a 4-3 lead.
Tulsa loaded the bases in the inning, but left all three runners on after UTEP changed pitchers and brought in Kelly Curran.
The Miners got runners on base in every inning except for the sixth. Lawrence pitched out of a bases-loaded jam, and twice TU got the third out with two runners on base. In the sixth inning, though, Tulsa retired the side in order. The final out came as Lawrence's seventh strikeout of the day.
The Hurricane exploded in the bottom of the sixth with seven runs, and all with nobody out. Chomicki led off with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and Swanson singled up the middle to score Chomicki. Lindsay then doubled to left center for her fourth hit of the game. UTEP put Townsend back in the circle, and she walked Menke to load the bases.
Yarmer singled to left center, scoring Swanson and Lindsay. The throw from the outfield sailed past the catcher, allowing Menke and Yarmer to move to third and second base, respectively. Vice walked to again load the bases. Smart then hit a two-run single to left field to drive home Menke and Yarmer and make the score 9-3.
Timmons swatted a base hit up the middle, scoring Vice and moving Smart to third. Stoelke then came up and hit the ball through the middle for a base hit and the winning RBI as Smart crossed home plate with her hands raised in the air.
"They just kept feeding off each other," Bargfeldt said of the Hurricane's seven-run sixth inning. "Once we got that first run in, we just kept one at-bat after another, just good at-bat after good at-bat. They just kept feeding. That's huge in this ballpark, to put up big runs there. When it started getting closer to that eight-run rule, I was hoping we'd get it so we wouldn't have to pitch Jackie another inning."
An announcement will be made on the TU Athletics website when the team finds out when and where it will play next weekend. Please check TulsaHurricane.com for the Golden Hurricane's NCAA Regional news and information.
