Tulsa Comes Up Short in High-Scoring Battle with Houston

Saturday, March 26

Collins Family Softball Complex

2:00 PM

Tulsa

12-18, 1-1

Houston

17-16, 1-1

Houston

Tulsa

Tulsa Comes Up Short in High-Scoring Battle with Houston

3/26/2022 7:33:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Gamebook (PDF) | Season Stats (PDF)

Tulsa, Okla. – The University of Tulsa softball team scored a run in every inning except the last, but fell 13-11 to the Houston Cougars in game two of the three-game series on Saturday afternoon at Collins Family Softball Complex.

The teams combined for 24 runs, 31 hits and seven home runs over the course of a game that was one minute from reaching the three-hour mark.

The Golden Hurricane fell to 12-18, 1-1 in the American with the loss, while Houston improved to 17-16 and 1-1 in AAC play as well.

Makenzie Brown (2-5) received the loss for Tulsa after coming on in relief. She was tagged for three hits and five runs with two walks and a strikeout in a third of an inning before Sara Llamas-Howell took over. Tulsa employed four pitchers, as Kylee Nash took the start and Samantha Pochop pitched the seventh inning.

Hannah Todd (5-5) was credited with the win for Houston. She initially didn't have enough innings after getting removed before the bottom of the third, but she came back in to finish the game and contributed the most out of the four hurlers the Cougars put forth.

Celeste Wood and Abby Jones both hit solo home runs, Wood's second of the season and the first of Jones' career. Houston had Becca Schulte and Kati Ray Brown who had a pair of homers apiece in the win.

Despite all the scoring in the game, Houston began proceedings with a scoreless first frame despite getting two-on. Tulsa got on the board first in the bottom half of the inning as Kailyn Bearpaw delivered a two-out single down the right field line to score Haley Morgan.

Houston took the lead in the top of the second after a throwing error, Tulsa's only of the game, put a runner on. The Cougars' Brown followed with her first homer of the afternoon over the wall in right to put the Cougars up 2-1.

Tulsa was the beneficiary of Houston's lone error in the bottom of the second, putting Jones on to lead the inning. A bunt single and a walk loaded the bases, and back-to-back ground outs brought in a pair of runs. A wild pitch allowed another run to cross home plate, putting Tulsa up 4-2 heading into the third.

The third inning proved costly for Tulsa as Houston recorded seven runs in the frame. A two-run home run tied the game and brought in Makenzie Brown in relief. A single, walk and double brought in two more and Houston led 6-4 with nobody out. Brown got the first out via strikeout, but after loading the bases, Llamas-Howell took over. Two singles would bring in three more runs before the Hurricane could escape the top of the inning, trailing 9-4.

Tulsa got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the third. Rylee Keith singled and Jones doubled with one out to get in scoring position. Both were rewarded as a ground out and a single would bring them home.

Houston went back-to-back with home runs to lead off the top of the fourth, reestablishing the five-run lead, 11-6. Wood hit a laser of a home run to right for Tulsa's only run of the inning, cutting the deficit to four.

Houston finished its scoring with a two-run home run from Schulte with nobody out. Jones then launched her first career home run in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 13-8 and end a streak of six straight runs scored on the long ball.

Tulsa put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth to make things interesting. After a lineout double play, Tulsa was facing a one-on two out situation. Consecutive singles forced a pitching change and loaded the bases. The Hurricane brought a run home thanks to a wild pitch, and then MaKayla Jackson nearly tied the game as a deep line drive came off the top of the wall, scoring two to make it 13-11.

The Cougars made another change in the circle and once again the Hurricane loaded the bases with two outs and Morgan at the plate. She hit a slow roller to short that looked as if it might be a single, but the shortstop's throw barely beat the Tulsa centerfielder's foot to the bag, cutting the rally short.

Kylie Norwood almost started the seventh inning with some fireworks as a towering drive to right turned into a long out when the right fielder timed her jump perfectly to rob Norwood of a home run. A lineout and ground out later and Houston escaped with the win.

Seven different Hurricane had hits in the game, six had multi-hit games and Jackson and Jones both had three-hit afternoons. Jackson led the team with three RBIs.

The Hurricane and Cougars will meet to decide the series on Sunday at the Collins Family Softball Complex. First pitch is at noon and the game will feature on ESPN+.