Tulsa Hosts OSU/TU Tournament Starting Friday

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

The TU-OSU Invitational gets underway Friday at the Collins Family Softball Complex with Tulsa facing the nation's 10th-ranked Oregon Ducks, just one of three teams undefeated in college softball, and then taking on the Drake Bulldogs.

Tulsa, Drake and Illinois-Chicago will play each other in the three Saturday games, while Tulsa closes out the tournament with a 12 noon Sunday game against the Louisville Cardinals.

Alexis Perry leads the Hurricane from the plate, batting .333 on the season. She has 12 hits, 2 doubles, 2 home runs and a triple, driving in 10 runs in 14 games. Makayla Jackson has appeared in 12 games, recording 8 hits and batting .471.

From the circle, Kassidy Scott has a 1.17 ERA, the lowest on the team, and a 2-2 record. Junior Samantha Pochop and sophomore Chenise Delce have combined for a 5-4 record in 9 starts between the two. The Henderson, Nev. native, Pochop, leads the Hurricane with 37 strikeouts in 29.1 innings..

Tickets for the all three days of the tournament are 10 dollars a person. On Friday against Oregon, the Hurricane will honor former TU softball player Emily Watson who is currently on the Oregon Ducks' staff. Senior Saturdays are back starting the Saturday, as trading cards will be given out honoring senior Mikayla Whitten during the Drake game on Feb. 29 at 2:30 p.m.

Bark in the Park and dollar hot dogs return to Sundays this season and will start on March 1 against Louisville. Fans are encouraged to bring their four-legged friends to the Collins Family Softball Complex.

TULSA SITE SCHEDULE

Friday, Feb. 28
#10 Oregon (14-0) vs. Drake (7-7) 12 noon
Tulsa (8-6) vs. Oregon 2:30 p.m.
Tulsa vs. Drake 5 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 29
Drake vs. Illinois-Chicago (4-6) 12 noon
Tulsa vs. Drake 2:30 p.m.
Tulsa vs. Illinois-Chicago 5 p.m.
Sunday, March 1
Tulsa vs. Louisville (5-9) 12 noon

Weekly Notes

PERRY, JACKSON HOT AT THE PLATE
• Makayla Jackson leads Tulsa at the plate with a .471 batting average with 8 hits in 17 at-bats, while also coming in with a .529 slugging percentage.
• Alexis Perry has a .333 batting average and leads the Hurricane in hits (12) and RBIs (10) in 36 at-bats … Perry has a team-leading .611 slugging percentage.

PITCHERS OFF TO GOOD START
• Tulsa has spread out its starts on the mound through the early part of the season as Tulsa's "Big 3" has each started at least 4 games.
• Sophomore Chenise Delce has a 3-2 record in 5 starts and 2.83 ERA, while pitching the most innings at 35.0.
• Senior Kassidy Scott has started 4 games and has a team-best 1.17 ERA in 23.0 innings pitched.
• Junior Samantha Pochop has a 1.53 ERA in 7 appearances and 4 starts … with 37 strikeouts in 29.1 innings, Pochop ranks 32nd nationally for strike-out to walk ratio.

A GOOD START
• In its first two tournaments, the Hurricane claimed an 8-1 record.
• After 9 games it was the best start since Tulsa began the 2014 campaign 8-1 and eventually went 12-1 to start the year.
• Tulsa's 7-0 start to the season was the second best start by a Hurricane team ... only the 2002 Golden Hurricane started better, opening the season 8-0.
• Tulsa swept through the Mercer Invitational, Feb. 7-9, defeating Tennessee Tech, Eastern Kentucky, Mercer and Dayton finishing the tournament with a 4-0 record.
• In the second weekend, the Hurricane traveled to Starkville, Miss. for the Bulldog Kickoff Classic, going 4-1.

A STRUGGLE
• Tulsa faced a strong field at last week's Baylor Invitational facing #13/17 Minnesota twice and two teams that were receiving votes – Baylor and Illinois … Baylor moved into the polls this past week at No. 23.
• After an 11-0 loss in the first game against Minnesota, Tulsa took Baylor and Illinois to the wire, falling 1-0 in each game, while the second meeting against Minnesota, the Gophers captured a 3-1 win … Texas State handed Tulsa a 2-0 defeat in the finale.
• Those 4 opponents have combined for a 38-18 record for a .678 winning percentage thru three weeks of the season.
• After hitting .265 in the first 9 games, the Hurricane struggled last week at the Baylor Invitational, connecting on 9 hits in 108 at-bats for an .083 batting average.

PITCHING DOMINANT IN OPENING WEEKEND
• The Hurricane pitching staff boasted a 1.35 ERA in the Mercer Invitational ...
• TU had the 15th highest strikeout-to-walk ratio in the nation with a 5.33 rate after that event ... the ratio was the best in the American Athletic Conference.
• Samantha Pochop threw 6.1 innings picking up a win and save in the tournament ... she ranked 8th in the nation in strikeouts per 7 innings with a 13.1 clip after that opening weekend.

Tulsa Hosts OSU/TU Tournament Starting Friday

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Players Mentioned

Chenise Delce

Alexis Perry

Samantha Pochop

Kassidy Scott

Emily Watson

Mikayla Whitten