Tulsa Splits Doubleheader With Houston

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, Okla. – Tulsa and Houston split a doubleheader on Saturday at the Collins Family Softball Complex, with TU taking the first game 3-2 and Houston winning the second one 5-1.

In the first game, Lacey Middlebrooks picked up the victory in the circle, moving her record to 14-4 on the year.

She gave up five hits and two earned runs in the complete game while striking out two.

TU coach John Bargfeldt said Middlebrooks might not have been on top of her game, but she gutted out a win and a solid performance.

"She battled and moved the ball around a little more to attack some areas with better location," he said. "They key was after getting down, we took advantage of a mistake that they made and kind of did what they did to us in the second game. We put up a three spot and they put up a four spot. That ended up being the difference in both games."

Senior Skylar Swanson drove in both of Tulsa earned runs in the game, rallying her team back from a first-inning deficit. TU scored all three of its runs in the bottom of the third.

Houston threatened in the seventh inning when two walks put the tying and go-ahead runs on base. But a pair of groundouts after that wrapped up the win.

The second game of the day wasn't quite as successful for the Golden Hurricane.

Just as Tulsa did its damage during the third inning in game one, Houston came back and did the same thing in the second game.

The Cougars scored four runs in the third to take control of the game and never let Tulsa threaten in the 5-1 victory.

TU's Aimee Creger took the loss, allowing all five runs while striking out five.

Tulsa's only run came in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI from Shelby Blanton, tying the game at that point.

With the split, Tulsa moved to 31-11 overall and 13-4 in C-USA play, while Houston is now at 27-17 (12-5).

TU and Houston will wrap up their series at Noon Sunday in Tulsa.