No. 18 Tulsa Drops Pitcher's Duel At Central Arkansas

Tulsa battled through a pitcher's duel, but dropped a non-conference road contest at Central Arkansas on Wednesday, 1-0.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Bears (22-11) got a leadoff single followed by a one-out base hit and consecutive walks to plate the only run of the game.

The Golden Hurricane (26-7-1) returns home this weekend as it plays host to UCF for a three-game series at the Collins Family Softball Complex. The teams play a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Friday, and a single game at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Lacey Middlebrooks started for the Hurricane, pitched five innings, posted eight strikeouts, and allowed just one hit and one walk. She also recorded Tulsa's only hit in the game. Kelsie Armstrong (15-7) struck out eight and walked one batter in the complete-game win for UCA, which tallied three hits. Aimee Creger (13-2) recorded two strikeouts in her one inning of relief, but absorbed the loss for TU.

UCA led off the bottom of the first inning with a base hit from right fielder Sam Forrest, but she was erased on a 4-6-3 double play, as Middlebrooks went on to retire the next seven batters. The Bears earned a walk in each of the third and fourth innings, but only one of those runners reached second base.

Cobb walked with two out in the top of the first, and represented Tulsa's only baserunner until the fourth inning when Middlebrooks laced a single through the right side of the infield. Neither TU runner advanced past second base, and the Hurricane could not muster a late-innings rally to push a run across home plate.