Wednesday, March 26
Tulsa, Okla.
5:00 p.m.
Tulsa
vs
Central Arkansas
Photo by: Joshua Rogers
Tulsa Softball Welcomes Central Arkansas and North Texas This Week
3/25/2025 9:09:00 PM | Softball
TULSA, Okla. – The University of Tulsa softball team (17-15, 5-4 The American) is back in the Collins Family Softball Complex for four games this week. First, the Golden Hurricane hosts Central Arkansas for a midweek matchup before welcoming North Texas for a three-game conference series starting on Friday.
WEEK SCHEDULE
Collins Family Softball Complex
Wednesday, March 26 at 5:00 p.m. | Tulsa vs. Central Arkansas
Friday, March 28 at 5:00 p.m. (CT) | Tulsa vs. North Texas
Saturday, March 29 at 2:00 p.m. (CT) | Tulsa vs. North Texas
Sunday, March 30 at 12 p.m. (CT) | Tulsa vs. North Texas
HOW TO FOLLOW
All four home games will air on ESPN+. Bruce Howard and Haley Meinen will bring fans the action. Fans can also follow the games at Tulsa.StatBroadcast.com.
TULSA vs. THE FIELD
Central Arkansas (14-17, 3-2 ASUN) – The Golden Hurricane hold a 7-4 lead all-time in the series against Central Arkansas. TU is 5-1 at home in the series against the Bears. The Hurricane and UCA were set to face off last season, but weather canceled the contest. The Bears have won the past two meetings, including a 9-1 win in 2022 in Tulsa, the first win for UCA inside the Collins Family Softball Complex.
Central Arkansas is coming in off a weekend sweep against North Alabama to get the first wins of conference play. UCA faces a fellow The American team in Wichita State on Tuesday evening before making the trip to Tulsa for the Wednesday showdown.
Kylie Griffin leads the team with a .404 batting average, collecting 44 hits, two doubles, four triples and a home run. As a team, the Bears are hitting .279 and have driven in 120 runs. Bailie Runner and Julia Petty do most the work in the circle, each with 13 starts and combining for 154.2 of the team's 199.1 innings.
North Texas (22-10, 5-4 The American) – The Hurricane and Mean Green are an even 9-9 against each other all-time. However, Tulsa leads the series 4-1 at home, winning the past four in in the Collins Family Softball Complex. The teams have not played each other in Tulsa since a pair of meetings in 2012. North Texas has won four-straight in the series, which includes the three games in Denton a year ago. All three of the games in the sweep were decided by a single run.
Former Hurricane Kailyn Bearpaw and Anneca Anderson have had immediate impacts at North Texas this season. Bearpaw is joint-leader on the team in home runs, hitting five while also driving in a team-best 24 RBI. Anderson is second on the team with 10 starts in the circle, holding a 9-3 record and a 3.41 ERA. She's struck out 43 batters in 78.0 innings of work.
Cierra Simon leads the team with a .390 batting average. She also has 23 RBIs, one behind Bearpaw. Tatum Sparks (.368), Riley McNemar (.324) and Elizabeth Moffitt (.322) are all batting above .300 this season. The Mean Green have a Wednesday evening matchup with No. 5 Texas A&M before heading to Tulsa.
THE SEASON SO FAR
The Golden Hurricane is 17-15, 5-4 in The American, heading into Wednesday's contest with Central Arkansas. This is Tulsa's first home games since March 12 against No. 1 Oklahoma.
Senior first baseman Celeste Wood and freshman catcher Amber Turner lead the Hurricane in batting, hitting .302 and .299, respectively this season. Wood holds the team lead with 23 RBI, while she and Maci Cole each have five home runs. Turner joins Annika Dill, Whitney Holcomb and Claira Skaggs as the team leaders in doubles, each collecting four.
As a team, Tulsa is batting .251 this season with 26 doubles, three triples, 19 home runs and 115 driven in. The team collectively holds a .350 on-base percentage and .364 slugging percentage.
In the circle, Maura Moore's 2.74 ERA paces the Tulsa pitchers. TU pitchers have thrown a combined 13 complete games, with nine coming from Moore, Brinly Maples tossing three Alexa Hopkins throwing one over the weekend at UAB. They've all combined for 128 strikeouts, and opponents hit .299 off Tulsa pitching this season.
TULSA TRIPPED UP AT UAB
The Golden Hurricane dropped a conference series for the first time this season at UAB, losing 2-of-3. The Hurricane picked up a 4-0 win in Sunday's finale thanks to a complete game shutout from Maura Moore and two run homers from Maci Cole and Danielle Burns. For Burns, it was the first home run of her career.
The Friday and Saturday contests were both decided by a single run. Tulsa fell 3-4 on Friday after fighting back to tie the game in the sixth at 3-3. UAB scored in the bottom of the frame and held on for the win. The next night, TU took a 1-0 lead to the sixth, but a tying run in the bottom of the inning and then a walk-off in the seventh downed Tulsa.
TU SWEEPS DOUBLEHEADER AT WESTERN CAROLINA
The Golden Hurricane offense exploded for 17 runs over two games against Western Carolina in a Wednesday doubleheader, winning 9-7 and 8-3.
Tulsa jumped ahead 9-0 in the first two innings before having to hold on at the end of the game in the first contest. Celeste Wood hit a 3-run homer to open the scoring as part of a six-run first.
In game two, Tulsa spread its eight runs out over five innings, including two each in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Amber Turner's two run homer in the third helped Tulsa break the game open in the win.
MOORE WEEKLY HONORS FOR MAURA
For the third weekend in a row, senior pitcher Maura Moore earned The American Weekly Honor Roll accolades for her performances against Western Carolina and UAB. Moore went 2-0 in the three games, allowing just two earned runs in 16 innings of work, including a complete-game shutout against the Blazers in Sunday's series finale.
WOOD DRIVES THEM HOME
Senior Celeste Wood is batting .310 this season, tied for best on the team, and has the team lead with 20 RBIs. The outfielder/first baseman, who is slugging .535, is tied for the team with seven extra-base hits, hitting two doubles, a triple and four home runs.
DON'T RUN ON AMBER
Freshman Amber Turner is already showing off her talent behind the plate early in her Tulsa career. Turner has caught 10 runners attempting to steal, which is tied for the conference lead with UTSA's Kalee Rochinski. Nationally, Turner ranks 11th in runners caught stealing. The catcher is also showing off her skills with the bat, second on the team with a .299 batting average. She also has four doubles, two home runs and 12 driven in.
TAKE A WALK
Senior infielder Maci Cole has drawn a team-leading 24 walks at the plate this season, which leads all batters in The American. Her 0.75 walks per game is first in the league and 49th in the NCAA.
MAGNIFICANT MAURA
Senior pitcher Maura Moore has been busy, throwing 104.2 innings, more than half of Tulsa's innings for the season and the most by any Tulsa pitcher. She the second in The American for innings pitched and 10th nationally. She leads the conference in games started (19) and tied for complete games (9), ranking 3rd and 27th in the NCAA, respectively.
FAITH'S TRIPLE
Tulsa needed a big hit in its series opener against East Carolina with the bases loaded in the top of the second inning. Second baseman Faith Russell was there to provide it, recording her first career triple to clear the bags and put Tulsa ahead 5-0, a lead the Hurricane would never relinquish. Russell has two doubles to go with her triple this season.
HURRICANE SINKS PIRATES
In the second weekend of The American action, the Golden Hurricane went on the road for the first time in conference play and took down East Carolina two games to one. Maura Moore was the star of the weekend, throwing two complete games, including a 152-pitch 10.0 inning thriller to clinch the series. Over 17 innings of work against the Pirates, Moore allowed just a single run in each game, striking out 11 batters
Tulsa opened with a 5-1 win in Friday's opener. All five runs came in the second inning, which included a Faith Russell triple to score three of the runs.
The Pirates responded in game two with a decisive 9-1 win in six innings. The Hurricane offense couldn't get going, managing just four hits to ECU's 12.
The rubber match was a pitcher's duel, with both women in the circle going toe-to-toe in a complete game effort. Moore and the Hurricane came out the winner over Taylor Apple and her teammates. Moore allowed just seven hits and one run in 10 innings of work, while Apple gave up four hits and three runs, only one earned.
Annika Dill drove in the game winning runs with a single down the left field line that just stayed fair in the top of the 10th. She scored Maci Cole and Whitney Holcomb. A wild pitch earned Tulsa's third run. The Pirates scored their only run in the bottom of the frame, but Tulsa held on for the win
TULSA TAMES TIGERS
The Golden Hurricane opened American Athletic Conference at home against the Memphis Tigers, taking two of three from the conference foes. This was the third year in a row TU and the UofM opened league play against each other.
Tulsa won the opening game 7-3. After falling behind 1-0, Tulsa scored one in the bottom of the first, four in the third and one each in the fifth and sixth while keeping the Tigers scoreless after the first until the final at-bats. Celeste Wood collected four RBI in the win and Paige Knight added a pair.
Memphis responded in game two with a 13-3 win in five innings. Wood added her fifth RBI of the weekend, but Tulsa could not get out of its own way, committing five errors as the Tigers had innings of five runs and eight runs in the third and fourth.
Maura Moore tossed her second complete game of the weekend and first shutout of the season to help Tulsa win the rubber match 8-0 in five innings in the Sunday finale. Moore struck out three and allowed five hits in the five innings. Freshman catcher Amber Turner did a lot of damage at the plate, driving in five with a pair of hits and a sacrifice fly.
CELESTE WOOD AND MAURA MOORE ON THE AMERICAN HONOR ROLL
Senior outfielder and first baseman Celeste Wood and pitcher Maura Moore each made their mark in Tulsa's series win over the Memphis Tigers. They both picked up recognition in the conference's weekly honor roll for their efforts. Wood batted .857 over the three games with six hits, a home run and five driven in. She came around to score five times and drew a pair of walks.
Moore spun two complete games, including a complete game shutout in the 8-0 five-inning win to clinch the series on Sunday. Moore recorded a 1.75 ERA in 12 innings of work with 11 strikeouts.
CLAIRA IS GRAND
Senior third baseman Claira Skaggs played a huge role in Tulsa's 6-2 win over Lamar. She hit a solo home run to give TU a lead in the sixth inning. In the top of the seventh with the game tied at two, Skaggs stepped up with the bases loaded and smashed a grand slam to vie the Hurricane a 6-2 win.
WELCOME TO TULSA
Freshmen Aliya Scarborough and Annika Dill introduced themselves to Tulsa fans in the opening weekend in big ways. In her first at-bat in the season opener, Dill doubled down the line to drive in a row. And then in her first at-bat of her second game, she homered down the left field line, scoring two. Scarborough made a big bang in her first plate appearance of her career. Facing the No. 2 Texas Longhorns as a designated player, Scarborough halved the Texas lead in the bottom of the third with a solo home run.
ON DECK
Next week, the Golden Hurricane will host Charlotte in another The American series. First pitch for the Friday opener is set for 5 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.
WEEK SCHEDULE
Collins Family Softball Complex
Wednesday, March 26 at 5:00 p.m. | Tulsa vs. Central Arkansas
Friday, March 28 at 5:00 p.m. (CT) | Tulsa vs. North Texas
Saturday, March 29 at 2:00 p.m. (CT) | Tulsa vs. North Texas
Sunday, March 30 at 12 p.m. (CT) | Tulsa vs. North Texas
HOW TO FOLLOW
All four home games will air on ESPN+. Bruce Howard and Haley Meinen will bring fans the action. Fans can also follow the games at Tulsa.StatBroadcast.com.
TULSA vs. THE FIELD
Central Arkansas (14-17, 3-2 ASUN) – The Golden Hurricane hold a 7-4 lead all-time in the series against Central Arkansas. TU is 5-1 at home in the series against the Bears. The Hurricane and UCA were set to face off last season, but weather canceled the contest. The Bears have won the past two meetings, including a 9-1 win in 2022 in Tulsa, the first win for UCA inside the Collins Family Softball Complex.
Central Arkansas is coming in off a weekend sweep against North Alabama to get the first wins of conference play. UCA faces a fellow The American team in Wichita State on Tuesday evening before making the trip to Tulsa for the Wednesday showdown.
Kylie Griffin leads the team with a .404 batting average, collecting 44 hits, two doubles, four triples and a home run. As a team, the Bears are hitting .279 and have driven in 120 runs. Bailie Runner and Julia Petty do most the work in the circle, each with 13 starts and combining for 154.2 of the team's 199.1 innings.
North Texas (22-10, 5-4 The American) – The Hurricane and Mean Green are an even 9-9 against each other all-time. However, Tulsa leads the series 4-1 at home, winning the past four in in the Collins Family Softball Complex. The teams have not played each other in Tulsa since a pair of meetings in 2012. North Texas has won four-straight in the series, which includes the three games in Denton a year ago. All three of the games in the sweep were decided by a single run.
Former Hurricane Kailyn Bearpaw and Anneca Anderson have had immediate impacts at North Texas this season. Bearpaw is joint-leader on the team in home runs, hitting five while also driving in a team-best 24 RBI. Anderson is second on the team with 10 starts in the circle, holding a 9-3 record and a 3.41 ERA. She's struck out 43 batters in 78.0 innings of work.
Cierra Simon leads the team with a .390 batting average. She also has 23 RBIs, one behind Bearpaw. Tatum Sparks (.368), Riley McNemar (.324) and Elizabeth Moffitt (.322) are all batting above .300 this season. The Mean Green have a Wednesday evening matchup with No. 5 Texas A&M before heading to Tulsa.
THE SEASON SO FAR
The Golden Hurricane is 17-15, 5-4 in The American, heading into Wednesday's contest with Central Arkansas. This is Tulsa's first home games since March 12 against No. 1 Oklahoma.
Senior first baseman Celeste Wood and freshman catcher Amber Turner lead the Hurricane in batting, hitting .302 and .299, respectively this season. Wood holds the team lead with 23 RBI, while she and Maci Cole each have five home runs. Turner joins Annika Dill, Whitney Holcomb and Claira Skaggs as the team leaders in doubles, each collecting four.
As a team, Tulsa is batting .251 this season with 26 doubles, three triples, 19 home runs and 115 driven in. The team collectively holds a .350 on-base percentage and .364 slugging percentage.
In the circle, Maura Moore's 2.74 ERA paces the Tulsa pitchers. TU pitchers have thrown a combined 13 complete games, with nine coming from Moore, Brinly Maples tossing three Alexa Hopkins throwing one over the weekend at UAB. They've all combined for 128 strikeouts, and opponents hit .299 off Tulsa pitching this season.
TULSA TRIPPED UP AT UAB
The Golden Hurricane dropped a conference series for the first time this season at UAB, losing 2-of-3. The Hurricane picked up a 4-0 win in Sunday's finale thanks to a complete game shutout from Maura Moore and two run homers from Maci Cole and Danielle Burns. For Burns, it was the first home run of her career.
The Friday and Saturday contests were both decided by a single run. Tulsa fell 3-4 on Friday after fighting back to tie the game in the sixth at 3-3. UAB scored in the bottom of the frame and held on for the win. The next night, TU took a 1-0 lead to the sixth, but a tying run in the bottom of the inning and then a walk-off in the seventh downed Tulsa.
TU SWEEPS DOUBLEHEADER AT WESTERN CAROLINA
The Golden Hurricane offense exploded for 17 runs over two games against Western Carolina in a Wednesday doubleheader, winning 9-7 and 8-3.
Tulsa jumped ahead 9-0 in the first two innings before having to hold on at the end of the game in the first contest. Celeste Wood hit a 3-run homer to open the scoring as part of a six-run first.
In game two, Tulsa spread its eight runs out over five innings, including two each in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Amber Turner's two run homer in the third helped Tulsa break the game open in the win.
MOORE WEEKLY HONORS FOR MAURA
For the third weekend in a row, senior pitcher Maura Moore earned The American Weekly Honor Roll accolades for her performances against Western Carolina and UAB. Moore went 2-0 in the three games, allowing just two earned runs in 16 innings of work, including a complete-game shutout against the Blazers in Sunday's series finale.
WOOD DRIVES THEM HOME
Senior Celeste Wood is batting .310 this season, tied for best on the team, and has the team lead with 20 RBIs. The outfielder/first baseman, who is slugging .535, is tied for the team with seven extra-base hits, hitting two doubles, a triple and four home runs.
DON'T RUN ON AMBER
Freshman Amber Turner is already showing off her talent behind the plate early in her Tulsa career. Turner has caught 10 runners attempting to steal, which is tied for the conference lead with UTSA's Kalee Rochinski. Nationally, Turner ranks 11th in runners caught stealing. The catcher is also showing off her skills with the bat, second on the team with a .299 batting average. She also has four doubles, two home runs and 12 driven in.
TAKE A WALK
Senior infielder Maci Cole has drawn a team-leading 24 walks at the plate this season, which leads all batters in The American. Her 0.75 walks per game is first in the league and 49th in the NCAA.
MAGNIFICANT MAURA
Senior pitcher Maura Moore has been busy, throwing 104.2 innings, more than half of Tulsa's innings for the season and the most by any Tulsa pitcher. She the second in The American for innings pitched and 10th nationally. She leads the conference in games started (19) and tied for complete games (9), ranking 3rd and 27th in the NCAA, respectively.
FAITH'S TRIPLE
Tulsa needed a big hit in its series opener against East Carolina with the bases loaded in the top of the second inning. Second baseman Faith Russell was there to provide it, recording her first career triple to clear the bags and put Tulsa ahead 5-0, a lead the Hurricane would never relinquish. Russell has two doubles to go with her triple this season.
HURRICANE SINKS PIRATES
In the second weekend of The American action, the Golden Hurricane went on the road for the first time in conference play and took down East Carolina two games to one. Maura Moore was the star of the weekend, throwing two complete games, including a 152-pitch 10.0 inning thriller to clinch the series. Over 17 innings of work against the Pirates, Moore allowed just a single run in each game, striking out 11 batters
Tulsa opened with a 5-1 win in Friday's opener. All five runs came in the second inning, which included a Faith Russell triple to score three of the runs.
The Pirates responded in game two with a decisive 9-1 win in six innings. The Hurricane offense couldn't get going, managing just four hits to ECU's 12.
The rubber match was a pitcher's duel, with both women in the circle going toe-to-toe in a complete game effort. Moore and the Hurricane came out the winner over Taylor Apple and her teammates. Moore allowed just seven hits and one run in 10 innings of work, while Apple gave up four hits and three runs, only one earned.
Annika Dill drove in the game winning runs with a single down the left field line that just stayed fair in the top of the 10th. She scored Maci Cole and Whitney Holcomb. A wild pitch earned Tulsa's third run. The Pirates scored their only run in the bottom of the frame, but Tulsa held on for the win
TULSA TAMES TIGERS
The Golden Hurricane opened American Athletic Conference at home against the Memphis Tigers, taking two of three from the conference foes. This was the third year in a row TU and the UofM opened league play against each other.
Tulsa won the opening game 7-3. After falling behind 1-0, Tulsa scored one in the bottom of the first, four in the third and one each in the fifth and sixth while keeping the Tigers scoreless after the first until the final at-bats. Celeste Wood collected four RBI in the win and Paige Knight added a pair.
Memphis responded in game two with a 13-3 win in five innings. Wood added her fifth RBI of the weekend, but Tulsa could not get out of its own way, committing five errors as the Tigers had innings of five runs and eight runs in the third and fourth.
Maura Moore tossed her second complete game of the weekend and first shutout of the season to help Tulsa win the rubber match 8-0 in five innings in the Sunday finale. Moore struck out three and allowed five hits in the five innings. Freshman catcher Amber Turner did a lot of damage at the plate, driving in five with a pair of hits and a sacrifice fly.
CELESTE WOOD AND MAURA MOORE ON THE AMERICAN HONOR ROLL
Senior outfielder and first baseman Celeste Wood and pitcher Maura Moore each made their mark in Tulsa's series win over the Memphis Tigers. They both picked up recognition in the conference's weekly honor roll for their efforts. Wood batted .857 over the three games with six hits, a home run and five driven in. She came around to score five times and drew a pair of walks.
Moore spun two complete games, including a complete game shutout in the 8-0 five-inning win to clinch the series on Sunday. Moore recorded a 1.75 ERA in 12 innings of work with 11 strikeouts.
CLAIRA IS GRAND
Senior third baseman Claira Skaggs played a huge role in Tulsa's 6-2 win over Lamar. She hit a solo home run to give TU a lead in the sixth inning. In the top of the seventh with the game tied at two, Skaggs stepped up with the bases loaded and smashed a grand slam to vie the Hurricane a 6-2 win.
WELCOME TO TULSA
Freshmen Aliya Scarborough and Annika Dill introduced themselves to Tulsa fans in the opening weekend in big ways. In her first at-bat in the season opener, Dill doubled down the line to drive in a row. And then in her first at-bat of her second game, she homered down the left field line, scoring two. Scarborough made a big bang in her first plate appearance of her career. Facing the No. 2 Texas Longhorns as a designated player, Scarborough halved the Texas lead in the bottom of the third with a solo home run.
ON DECK
Next week, the Golden Hurricane will host Charlotte in another The American series. First pitch for the Friday opener is set for 5 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.
Players Mentioned
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