Memphis Softball finished their nearly month-long road trip with a visit to Tulsa, Oklahoma to take on the Golden Hurricane in the first series of AAC play for both teams. Even though the Tigers lost the series, they picked up their first conference win of the season in a league that currently features seven teams at or above .500, five of which are in the top 75 of the RPI.
Game 1: Tulsa 7 Memphis 3
Lyrical Bennett got the nod at pitcher for Memphis and made the most out of the opportunity, throwing four strikeouts and only giving up one run after three innings. She only gave up one run during this stretch, which tied Memphis' strong start on offense.
In the bottom of the third, Tulsa's bats got hot in a hurry. They strung four base hits in a row with no outs, taking the lead in the process, before the Golden Hurricane's Paige Knight hit a double with two RBIs to make the score 5-1. Bennett was pulled at this point in favor of Jericho Tate, who was able to get three outs and end the inning.
In response to this explosion, Memphis was absolutely shut down by Maura Moore, who was on the mound the entire game. She tallied eight strikeouts and left 11 Tigers runners on base, which helped Tulsa extend the lead to 7-1.
The Tigers tried to rally in the seventh, picking up two runs before loading the bases with the leading runner at the plate, but it was not to be.
Game 2: Memphis 13 Tulsa 3 (5 inn.)
After going down 3-0 in the second inning, the Tigers started to swing the bat with a vengeance. They scored five runs in the third inning and eight in the fourth inning, despite Tulsa putting three different pitchers in front of Memphis.
It wasn't done with the long ball, Memphis just put together singles and doubles while taking advantage of five errors by their opponents. Nine different players recorded a hit and four recorded multiple hits.
"If you look at us statistically, we have a lot of people above .300, which is different for our program," said Coach Prater after the game. "Anybody at any time can win a game for us...we need one through nine to perform and when more than one person is performing, we get the offensive explosion like we did today."
Game 3: Tulsa 8 Memphis 0 (5 inn.)
The rubber match was all Golden Hurricane from the start. After Memphis went down in order in the first inning, Tulsa quickly loaded the bases with one out and cashed in on a two RBI single to go up 2-0.
From there, the Tigers were held scoreless for only the second time this season while only recording five hits. Memphis tried every pitcher in their rotation, but nothing could stop Tulsa from flipping the script from the previous day in a team effort on offense.
The home team exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fourth and took care of business in the top of the fifth to secure the series via mercy rule.
Memphis Softball will be back home for the first time since Feb. 18 to take on North Alabama on March 12, followed by a weekend series against UTSA.
