Tulsa Opens American Conference Action at Home Against UTSA

TULSA, Okla. — Winning seven of their last 10 games, Tulsa starts American Conference play against UTSA on Friday at the Collins Family Softball Complex.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday, March 5 at 5 PM – UTSA (ESPN+)
Saturday, March 6 at 2 PM – UTSA
Sunday, March 7 at 12 PM – UTSA

QUICK HITS

Each of Tulsa's last three wins have come via the walk-off. Mackenzy Glenn got the party started with a bases loaded walk to take the game on Friday against South Dakota State. Malia Cabuyaban won the second game against South Dakota State with a seventh inning single for the win before Emma Vickrey ended the weekend with a walk-off home run against Southeast Missouri.
Tulsa went 3-1 at the Hurricane Invitational and has now won seven of 10 heading into the weekend.
Isabella Arroyo and Brinly Maples were terrific for Tulsa last weekend. The duo went 10.2 IP without allowing an earned run. They won all three games for the Golden Hurricane while not walking a batter.
Tulsa pitching has allowed the fewest walks in the American Conference with 51.
Tulsa has hit 33 doubles this season, the tied for third in the American Conference. The Golden Hurricane only had 51 all of last season.
Faith Russell continues to lead the team with a .375 batting average and is getting on base at a .516 rate.
Tulsa is third in the American in walks with 68. Florida Atlantic leads the league with 79.
Head Coach Crissy Strimple earned her 140th win as the head coach at Tulsa last Saturday. With her next win the long-time Golden Hurricane will become the second winningest coach in program history, passing James Pinkerton.
Maci Cole reached 100 hits with Tulsa last Saturday with a single in the bottom of the 4th versus SEMO.

TULSA vs. THE ROADRUNNERS

Friday marks the 26th all-time meeting between the schools.
Last season the Roadrunners won the series in San Antonio but the Golden Hurricane won the rematch in the American Conference Tournament.
Tulsa won the series the last time these two met in Tulsa, outscoring UTSA 22-10.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Tulsa has racked up 33 doubles as a team through 19 games. The team's 33 doubles is tied for third in the American Conference behind Florida Atlantic (38), North Texas (36), and even with Charlotte (33).
Last season, Tulsa only had 51 in 54 games.
Sophomore Amber Turner leads the way with six, last season she only had four in 145 at bats.

PATIENT AT THE PLATE
The Golden Hurricane are patient at the plate, working 69 walks, while being hit by a pitch 20 times.
Their 20 hit by pitches ranks first in the American and 20th in the country.
The team's 69 walks are third in the league and 78th in the NCAA.
Maci Cole and Faith Russell are tied for seventh in the league with 13 walks.
Claira Skaggs and Daeya Moses each have walked eight times as well.
Malia Cabuyaban is fourth in the league, being plunked five times this season. The freshman was hit by a pitch three times against Central Arkansas.
Tulsa has also been difficult to strikeout, only doing so 70 times, second fewest in the American.

MAGNIFICENT MAURA
Maura Moore has been magnificent this season. Through four weekends she has 3 wins, 4 complete games, 52.2 innings in the circle, 52 strikeouts, and pitched to a 3.32 ERA.
She enters the weekend tied for second in the American in strikeouts, 12th in ERA, and tied for sixth in complete games.
Moore earned American Conference Pitcher of the Week on Monday, February 23. It was the second time in her career earning the award. She went 3-0, with wins over Tarleton State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Pitt, pitching 18.1 innings with 24 strikeouts and a miniscule 1.15 ERA.
Moore is also fourth in the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.06.
Moore has made plenty of history this season. Earlier this season she became the 10th pitcher in program history to throw 500 innings. She is fourth in school history with 97 starts, trailing only Aimee Creger (110), Emily Watson (109), and Jenny Magill (101).
She was busy last season, throwing 152.0 innings, almost half of Tulsa's for the season and the only Tulsa pitcher to throw over 100.0. She finished fourth in The American for innings pitched and 83rd nationally. She led the conference in games started (32), second for complete games (11), ranking 14th and 106th in the NCAA, respectively.

SOFTBALL TO SPACE
Graduate student Maci Cole has accomplished a lot since she has stepped foot on the TU campus. Last season, Cole worked on a mechanical engineering project, which is part of a NASA initiative.
During an 18-game hitting streak last season, Cole slashed .472/.569/.962 with six doubles, a triple, six home runs and 17 driven in.
Prior to the 2026 season, Cole was named to the D1 Softball Top 100 Mid-Major Players List.
This season she leads the Golden Hurricane in hits (19), runs (16), home runs (3), and extra base hits (7). She is also third in batting average (.292).

BACK IN BUSINESS
The Golden Hurricane return 12 players from last season's roster.
Graduate student shortstop Maci Cole headlines the returners after earning First Team All-Conference honors.
Cole led the Golden Hurricane offense with a .316 batting average, 49 hits, 10 home runs, .594 slugging percentage, .454 on-base percentage, and 35 walks. She was also second on the team with 27 RBI.
Claira Skaggs was red-hot last year despite being limited to just 19 games in 2025 due to injury.
Skaggs was raking with a .365 batting average and 19 hits while slugging .615 and getting on base at a .469 clip. Despite missing so much time, Skaggs finished third on the team with 3 home runs while driving in 16 runs.
Annika Dill, Faith Russell, Elle Rouse, and Amber Turner are back after starting the majority of the 2025 season.
Dill had a strong freshman campaign, recording a slash line of .270/.335/.368 and starting all 54 games. She also was fourth on the Golden Hurricane with 17 RBI.
In the circle, Maura Moore's 4.47 ERA was the team low, while leading the team with 13 wins. She recorded 11 complete games and two shutouts. In 152.0 innings of work, Moore struck out 91 batters. Alexa Hopkins and Brinly Maples picked up the majority of the rest of the innings. Maples finished second on the team with 95.0 innings and struck 51. She won 6 games with 27 appearances in the circle. Hopkins struck out 54 in 80.0 innings, saving 2 games and picking up a pair of wins.

PRESEASON POLL

Tulsa was picked to finished 7th in the American Conference preseason poll.
Florida Atlantic was picked to win the league and received 8 first place votes.
South Florida received 2 first place votes and was picked second, followed by Wichita State, Charlotte, North Texas, East Carolina, Tulsa, UAB, UTSA, and Memphis in that order.

NOTABLE NEWCOMERS
The Golden Hurricane welcome 7 newcomers to the roster ahead of the 2026 season.
The roster features 5 freshmen; Isabella Arroyo, Mackenzy Glenn, Preslee Ray, Malia Cabuyaban, and Makenzie Freeman.
Arroyo and Freeman add depth to the circle. Glenn is expected to impact the outfield, Cabuyaban is an infielder, while Ray can play all over the field including catcher.
Freeman comes in as one of the most decorated pitchers in Arkansas high school history. She was named the 2024 Gatorade Player of the Year and holds the Arkansas Activites Association records for wins (102) and strike outs (1,012). She is the only pitcher in state history to reach 100 wins and fan 1,000 batters. Freeman also holds state records for innings (665.1), shutouts (57), no-hitters (16), and perfect games (8).
Arroyo pitched to a 1.70 ERA and struck out 179 batters as a high school senior.
Glenn starred at Lutheran High School, helping them to 4 state championships. She posted huge numbers, batting .546 with a .614 on-base percentage while also earning 4 Academic All-State honors.
Cabuyaban comes to Tulsa after a strong high school career where she hit .322 with 13 home runs and 59 RBI.
Ray was a .309 hitter in high school and was named the 2022 Norman High Freshman of the Year. She earned All-Region, All-District, and was a VYPE Player to Watch as a senior.
A pair of JUCO transfers also look to make an immediate impact on the Golden Hurricane in outfielder Madison Garcia and infielder Daeya Moses.
Garcia spent 2 seasons at McLennan Community College where they went 114-12 and reached the 2024 NJCAA D1 National Championship.
She recorded 128 hits for a .408 batting average and drove in 79 runs in 116 appearances.
Moses played 2 seasons at Grayson College.
As a sophomore they won 54 games and reached the NJCAA D1 World Series. She hit .337 with 12 home runs and 66 RBI. As a freshman she hit .335 with 17 home runs and 78 RBI as Grayson won 38 games.

UPCOMING MILESTONES
Claira Skaggs is closing in on 150 hits and 100 RBI. She currently has 146 hits and 95 RBI.
Maura Moore has made 97 starts, closing in being the fourth player in school history with 100. She also has 380 strikeouts, as she looks to be the ninth player with 400 at Tulsa.
Head Coach Crissy Strimple is one win away from passing James Pinkerton as the second winningest coach in program history.

AROUND THE DIAMOND
Tulsa is outscoring opponents 20-7 in the second inning.
Pinch hitters are 3-for-9 (.333) for the Golden Hurricane this season. Opposing teams are 0-for-9.
Tulsa has been getting the ball in the air this season, with a 1.3 ratio of fly balls to groundouts.
Tulsa is 2-1 in extra inning games this season.
The Golden Hurricane have three walk-off wins this season.
Tulsa's win over Pitt was the team's first meeting and win over an ACC program since an 11-3 win over Syracuse in 2019.

UP NEXT
Tulsa travels to Norman to take on Oklahoma in midweek action.

Visit www.TulsaHurricane.com for the latest news and information on the softball program. Fans can also follow the team on X, Facebook and Instagram.

Tulsa Opens American Conference Action at Home Against UTSA

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Players Mentioned

Isabella Arroyo

Malia Cabuyaban

Maci Cole

Annika Dill

Makenzie Freeman

Madison Garcia

Mackenzy Glenn

Alexa Hopkins

Brinly Maples

Maura Moore

Daeya Moses

Preslee Ray

Elle Rouse

Faith Russell

Claira Skaggs

Amber Turner

Emma Vickrey

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