Tulsa
Tennessee Tech
Tulsa Softabll Opens Season Today at Mercer Invitational
2/6/2020 3:00:00 PM | Softball
TULSA, Okla. — The University of Tulsa softball team will open its 2020 season on the road this weekend with five games at the Mercer Invitational, Feb. 7-9, in Macon, Ga.
The season gets underway at 9 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, when the Golden Hurricane face Tennessee Tech, and then will face Eastern Kentucky at 11:15 a.m. on Friday. TU will face the host, Mercer, on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. before another matchup against Eastern Kentucky at 8:15 p.m. The Hurricane closes the event on Sunday against Dayton at 11:15 a.m. Tulsa faces Tennessee Tech for the 4th time in school history, but first since 2007 as Tulsa leads the series 2-1. Tulsa leads the Mercer series 1-0, while this will be the first meetings with both Eastern Kentucky and Dayton.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday
9 a.m. — Tulsa vs. Tennessee Tech - Stats
11:15 a.m. — Tulsa vs. Eastern Kentucky - Stats
Saturday
3:45 p.m. — Tulsa at Mercer - Stats
8:15 p.m. — Tulsa vs. Eastern Kentucky - Stats
Sunday
11:15 a.m. — Tulsa vs. Dayton - Stats
GAME NOTES
TU Welcomes First-Year Head Coach Crissy Strimple
• Crissy Strimple has spent the last 14 years with Tulsa as a player and coach ... she has spent 12 years as an assistant coach at Tulsa, including the last 8 years as the associate head coach … she succeeds Tulsa's all-time winningest coach John Bargfeldt.
• The Hurricane has amassed 464 wins, five regular-season conference titles, six conference tournament crowns and 10 NCAA Regional appearances in Strimple's time in the dugout.
• Since joining the coaching staff in 2008, the TU offense has set eight separate single-season school records, including batting average, hits, runs, RBI, home runs, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
• After a two year stint at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, Strimple played third base for Tulsa ... she led the team with 10 home runs as a senior and was the team's Offensive Player of the Year in both her junior and senior seasons.
Tulsa Picked to Finish Third in The American
• Tulsa was picked to finish third in the American Athletic Conference, as selected by the league's head coaches.
• TU received 34 votes placing behind conference favorite, USF, who had 48 votes and Wichita State with 39 votes.
• The Hurricane last season finished just one game behind league-champion USF and had a chance to win the conference title on the final day of the regular season.
Strong Pitching Rotation Returns
• Tulsa is led by sophomore Chenise Delce, who was named the American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year last season.
• Delce anchored the TU pitching staff last season with a 1.60 ERA and a 14-5 record. She led the staff in innings pitched (126.2) and ranked second with 110 strikeouts.
• In addition, senior Kassidy Scott returns after a season where she had a 2.98 ERA, 8-6 record and five saves.
• Junior Samantha Pochop completes the stellar rotation after being named to the second team All-American Athletic Conference.
• Senior Madison Higley and freshman Sara Llamas-Howell round out the 2020 pitching staff.
Seniors Ready to Lead
• The Hurricane returns 4 seniors for the 2020 season ... pitchers Kassidy Scott and Madison Highley look to lead from the circle ... while Alexis Perry and Mikayla Witten will lead from the plate.
• Last season, Perry made 43 starts and ranked second on the team with 27 RBIs ... she was named The American Player of the Week on April 22 after she hit .545 with two doubles, a grand slam and six RBIs in four games.
• Scott led the league with five saves, which also ranked 13th in the nation. Her five saves are the most for a TU pitcher since Caitlin Sill had six in 2015.
• Whitten set personal bests in several offensive categories including batting average (.243), runs (28), hits (33), homers (2), RBI (16), walks (14), slugging percentage (.316) and on-base percentage (.331) last year for Tulsa.
• Higley made five appearances in the circle with two starts during the season ... went 1-0 and tossed 6.2 innings.
Transfers Bring Experience to Tulsa
• Tulsa brings in four transfers to look to fill the shoes of the 5 graduated starters from the 2019 team ... the Hurricane welcomes outfielders Tajiah Ellison (Missouri) and Kyndal Pirtle (Harding) as well as infielder Kylie Norwood (Toledo) and catcher Gracie Garman (Northeastern Okla. A&M)
• Norwood joins Tulsa after two successful seasons at Toledo ... she started 113 games, recording 117 hits and 51 RBIs ... she has stolen 18 of her 27 career stolen base attempts.
• Pirtle led the Division II Harding Bisons for two seasons ... starting 107 of 108 games, she had 85 hits including 4 triples ... she stole 46 bases out of 51 attempts ... was a second-team All-Great American Conference selection in 2019 after she hit .333 with 38 runs scored, three triples, 11 RBI and 33 stolen bases.
• Ellison appeared in 22 games over two seasons at Missouri ... scored nine runs with a double and an RBI.
• Garman played two seasons at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M ... appeared in 86 games at catcher for the Norse and hit .243 with 23 runs scored, 12 doubles, three homers and 15 RBIs ... produced a .997 fielding percentage with just one error in 366 chances over her two seasons
Leaving a Legacy
• While Tulsa returns 12 letterwinners from last year's team, it will have to make up for the graduation of 5 starters in Tori Stafford, Morgan Neal, Rylie Spell, Haley Meinen and Julia Hollingsworth this season.
• Hollingsworth was the 2019 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year ... she owns the TU single-season (7) and career (15) records for triples ... also left the program with the TU career record for on-base percentage (.466) ... ranks among the top 10 in program history in batting average (2nd; .378), runs scored (t-2nd; 177), hits (3rd; 251), stolen base percentage (4th; .847), stolen bases (4th; 50), walks (4th; 106), slugging percentage (5th; .536) and total bases (6th; 356).
• Spell was the 2018 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year ... she ranks fourth in career fielding percentage at TU with a .991 mark ... also ranks among the program's all-time top-10 in most caught stealing (4th; 41), putouts (5th; 1,091) and chances (5th; 1,186).
• Second-team American Athletic Conference selection, Neal saw action in 57 games with 56 starts at second base and hit .302 with a career-high 17 doubles, a triple, homer and team-leading 31 RBIs ... her 17 doubles also led the American Athletic Conference.
• Stafford was selected to the AAC All-Tournament team in 2017 and appeared in 222 games for Tulsa ... hit .249 with 73 runs, 22 doubles, two triples, 11 homers and 81 RBIs ... posted a .359 slugging percentage and .325 on-base percentage ... ranks sixth in program history with 1,064 putouts and seventh with a .988 fielding percentage
• Meinen, a three-time All-American Athletic Conference second team member, appeared in 153 games with 143 starts ... hit .269 with 18 doubles, 13 homers and 69 RBIs ... made 29 appearances in the circle and owns a 7-3 record with a 2.66 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 87.0 innings
Tulsa's Postseason Honors
• Tulsa took home a league-high six all-conference honors in 2019, highlighted by Player of the Year (Julia Hollingsworth) and Rookie of the Year (Chenise Delce) awards.
• Hollingsworth and Delce each earned first-team all-conference honors, while Morgan Neal, Rylie Spell, Haley Meinen and Samantha Pochop all were named to the second-team.
• It was the third first-team all-conference selection for Hollingsworth, who became the first TU player to earn a conference Player of the Year honor since Jill Barrett in 2014 (Conference USA).
• Delce and Hollingsworth also earned NFCA Second-Team All-Region honors.
2019 Season In Review
• Tulsa finished the 2019 campaign with a 37-20 overall record and 16-5 mark in American Athletic Conference play to place second in the league.
• The Golden Hurricane earned just the fourth at-large NCAA bid in program history and was sent to Stillwater, where the team went 2-2 with both losses coming to host and No. 13 national seed Oklahoma State.
• It was the 18th straight season that TU had claimed at least 30 victories.
• Tulsa travels to Starkville, Miss. next weekend, Feb. 14-16, to compete in the Bulldog Kickoff Classic. Tulsa will face Mississippi State, Tennessee State and North Alabama.
