The University of Tulsa softball team used a massive second inning to defeat SIU-Edwardsville 8-3 in the Golden Hurricane’s final game of the Golden Eagle Invitational on Sunday morning.
The Hurricane (5-5) scored six runs on five hits in the second to blow the game open. Tulsa (5-5) finishes the weekend with a 4-1 record, enjoying wins over Alcorn State and Southern Mississippi in addition to its two wins against the Cougars.
Kylee Nash (2-2) picked up her second win of the season, spinning six innings of one-run ball. She struck out six while walking none and allowing six hits. Riley Grant and Maura Moore combined to close out the win.
The Hurricane got it done a lot of small ball and taking advantage of mistakes. TU didn’t have a single extra base hit but were 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position and had five RBIs with two outs. The Cougars committed five errors while Tulsa only had one.
Haley Morgan had one hit in four at-bats, but it was a big one, getting the runs started in Tulsa’s big second inning. She finished the game with two RBIs. Claira Skaggs and Imani Edwards each had a pair of hits in the win and came around to score, and Skaggs added an RBI.
HOW IT HAPPENED
MacKenzie Denson did a lot of the dirty work to put Tulsa ahead in the first inning. She drew a one-out walk and then immediately stole second. Denson then took off for third, forcing a bad throw from the catcher, which allowed her to put Tulsa up 1-0.
The decisive second inning began with an infield single, but as Morgan came to bat with the bases loaded, the Cougars were just an out away from escaping with no damage. Instead, Morgan scoring Skaggs and Abby Jones. An error allowed Rylee Keith to score from first and Morgan stood on third after the two-bag error with Tulsa leading 4-0.
Denson picked her up with an RBI single. After a walk, Denson was brought home on Bearpaw’s single to left. That brought Skaggs up for the second time in the inning and she came through for the second time, driving in Celeste Wood to put Tulsa up 7-0.
Thanks to Nash’s pitching, the Cougars were kept out of scoring position until the fifth inning. SIUE had singles in the second, third and fourth innings, but never advanced past first base. In the fifth, a leadoff double and subsequent error put a runner on third base for the first time. It was the lone extra base hit of the game.
Nash didn’t let it phase her as a ground out scored the run, but after another single, she forced a second ground out and then struck out a batter to end the inning. After setting the Cougars down in the sixth, she departed the game as the pitcher of record.
Tulsa added an insurance run in the seventh. Edwards single and stole second, then advanced to third on a throwing error from the catcher. Abby Jones hit a sacrifice fly to right, bringing Edwards in for the eighth run.
SIUE scored a run to cut the lead to 8-2 in the bottom of the seventh and had runners on second and third before the first out. Moore stepped into the circle to shut the game down. After a sac fly made it 8-3 and recorded the first out, Moore got a pop up and line out to give Tulsa the win.
Next week, Tulsa will head to Alabama for the South Alabama Invitational. The Golden Hurricane will face the hosts for an opening game on Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. A pair of games with Furman and Mississippi State on Friday awaits before Tulsa wraps the weekend with Saturday matchups against Louisiana Tech and South Alabama again.
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