TU Softball In Arkansas For Rematch Against Razorbacks

The University of Tulsa softball team is in Fayetteville for a rematch against Arkansas at 6 p.m. at Bogle Park. The Hurricane (26-12 Overall) took their last meeting with the Razorbacks at home 8-0 in five innings.
 
Emily Watson tossed 4.1 innings of perfect softball in the shutout win over Arkansas back on March 15 at the Collins Family Softball Complex, allowing just one hit while striking out eight. Rylie Spell had a career game with a 2-2 showing at the plate while adding five RBI and a home run to help Tulsa to a win in five.
 
The match-up brings together two top-30 RPI teams as Tulsa currently ranks 30th in the poll while Arkansas is at 27th. The Razorbacks are 24-14 in 2017 with a 4-11 conference mark in SEC play having won their final two games over No. 24-ranked Missouri on Saturday and Sunday.

Tulsa returns to their home field and back to conference play on Thursday as they host Houston for game one of their three-game series at 5 p.m.

THE AMERICAN WEEKLY...
Emily Watson was named The American Pitcher of the Week for the fifth time this season as she struck out 17 in a win over Oklahoma State on Wednesday evening while walking just one and surrendering two earned. Julia Hollingsworth was selected to the honor roll for the second straight week as she went 4-6 at the plate with two walks and three runs scored.

SECOND NATIONALLY...
Emily Watson ranked second nationally in strikeouts this season with 219 while ranking in the top-10 nationally in shutouts, strikeouts per seven innings, and total wins.

LAST 10...
Tulsa owns an 8-2 record over their last 10 games dating back to their match-up against Kansas at the Rock Chalk Challenge. As a team, TU is hitting .309 over the last 10 games while their opponents are hitting under .200 at .191. Maggie Withee leads the way at the plate with 18 hits in her last 33 at-bats with five RBI, a .606 slugging percentage, and a .583 on-base percentage. Julia Hollingsworth is right at .500 at the plate while scoring nine runs for the Hurricane. Tulsa's offense has also out-scored their opponents 36-17 in the last 10 games.

RPI RANKINGS...
Tulsa jumped two spots in the latest RPI Rankings as released by the NCAA on Monday afternoon, moving from 32nd to 30th after splitting their mid-week games. The Hurricane are the highest-ranked team from The American in the poll while the conference ranks 9th as a whole in the rankings.