Tulsa Begins Weekend Series Against No. 19/21 Wichita State on Friday

TULSA, Okla. – The Tulsa softball team closes its American Athletic Conference home season this weekend as the No. 19/21-ranked Wichita State Shockers visit the Collins Family Softball Complex.

The Golden Hurricane and Shockers will play at 5 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Sunday game is also Tulsa's Senior Day, where the Hurricane will honor seniors Gracie Jarvis and Rylee Keith.

Tulsa enters with an overall 20-23 record and 6-6 mark in The American, after sweeping the Houston Cougars in last weekend's AAC action. Tulsa rolled to a 7-0 win in the weekend opener thanks to four RBI from Keith and another complete game shutout from Maura Moore. Imani Edward's grand slam lifted Tulsa to a 4-2 win on Saturday and on Sunday, the Golden Hurricane rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the seventh to win 6-4.

The Shockers (40-8, 13-2 AAC) have had a fantastic year, touting top-10 wins over Arkansas and twice against Oklahoma State.

The teams will meet for the 61st time when the series starts on Friday, with Wichita State enjoying a 34-27 advantage. The Shockers have won four straight games in the series and seven of the past 10, which includes last season's sweep in Wichita.

Tulsa is batting .276 this season with 20 home runs and 160 RBI. Haley Morgan leads the way with a .397 batting average. Her 39 runs scored leads the team and she's tied with Claira Skaggs for second on the team with 23 RBI behind Kailyn Bearpaw's 29. Imani Edwards has bumped her average up to .390 this season and has four triples, a pair of homers and 18 RBI.

In conference play, Morgan and Edwards have been phenomenal. Both are hitting well above .400 and have higher slugging percentages and on-base percentages as well. Also stepping up is the senior Keith, who has four home runs in league play with a team-high 11 RBI. Bearpaw is right behind her with 10 driven in.

For her performance in Houston, Edwards was named The American Athletic Conference Softball Player of the Week. She hit .400 over the three-game span with three RBI, including the runs that proved to be the game winners in Friday and Saturday's action. Her grand slam in the third inning of game two powered the Tulsa win.

Kylee Nash also had a great weekend, earning a spot on the conference honor roll. She tossed 8.1 innings with nine strikeouts, allowing only three hits and two runs and she picked up a pair of wins. The junior pitched a complete game on Saturday and then came on in relief Sunday to help Tulsa start the comeback, adding a single with two outs in the seventh that started the rally.

All three games of the series will air on ESPN+. Tulsa will close-put its overall home schedule on Tuesday, May 2, with a rescheduled game against the nation's No.1-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Game time is 5 p.m. Next weekend, Tulsa closes the conference schedule with a three-game series at East Carolina before the American Athletic Conference Championship, May 11-14 in Tampa, Fla.

Tulsa Begins Weekend Series Against No. 19/21 Wichita State on Friday

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Players Mentioned

Kailyn Bearpaw

Imani Edwards

Gracie Jarvis

Rylee Keith

Maura Moore

Haley Morgan

Kylee Nash

Claira Skaggs