TU Set for FAU "Strike-Out Cancer" Tournament This Weekend

Tournament Notes

TULSA, Okla. — The University of Tulsa softball team will return to the diamond this weekend as it travels to Boca Raton, Fla., for the FAU "Strike-Out Cancer" Tournament.

The Golden Hurricane (3-6) will face five different squads over the three-day (Feb. 23-25) tournament, starting with Dartmouth and UIC on Friday. TU then will take on Texas State and Columbia on Saturday before closing the tournament against host Florida Atlantic on Sunday.

Tournament Schedule (Times listed as Central)
Friday
8 a.m. — Tulsa vs. Dartmouth - Stats/Video
10:15 a.m. — Tulsa vs. UIC - Stats/Video

Saturday
8 a.m. — Tulsa vs. Texas State - Stats/Video
10:15 a.m. — Tulsa vs. Columbia - Stats/Video

Sunday
12:30 p.m. — Tulsa at Florida Atlantic - Stats/Video

Notes
TU at the FAU "Strike-Out Cancer" Tournament This Weekend
• Tulsa will head south to Boca Raton, Fla., to play five games in three days, Feb. 23-25, at the FAU "Strike-Out Cancer" Tournament.
• The Golden Hurricane will take on Dartmouth, UIC, Texas State, Columbia and host Florida Atlantic
• TU is 6-15 all-time against the tournament field and will meet Dartmouth and Columbia for the first time.

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.
• The schedule also will have the Hurricane matched-up with teams that started the season either ranked or recieving votes. McNeese State is receiving votes and Texas A&M is ranked No. 6 in the NFCA Coaches Poll, while TU also will face No. 4 Oklahoma (April 17) and No. 18 Oklahoma State (March 21, April 4).
• Meanwhile, Texas State (Feb. 24) and St. Francis (Pa.) (March 17) also started the season receiving votes.

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.

In the Rankings
• Tulsa opened 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.
• It was the first time that TU began 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.

Up Next
• Tulsa will head to Denton, Texas, for the North Texas Invitational, March 2-4. TU will face Nicholls State, UT Arlington and host North Texas.

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TU Set for FAU "Strike-Out Cancer" Tournament This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Julia Hollingsworth

Emily Watson