Tulsa Claims Share of C-USA Title

The Golden Hurricane shut out UTEP 4-0 in the regular season finale on Sunday.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:23 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: May 8, 2011 7:58 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

EL PASO, Texas – The Tulsa Softball team has clinched the regular season Conference USA co-championship

The Golden Hurricane beat UTEP 4-0 on Sunday afternoon to sweep the series against the Miners.

But more importantly, they clinched the school’s third regular season championship (Tulsa also won it in 2006 and 2009).

The victory sealed Tulsa into a tie with the fellow first place Houston Cougars. Because of Houston’s tiebreaker victories, the Cougars will be awarded the No. 1 seed heading into the conference tournament.

The Golden Hurricane will play the No. 7 seed Marshall to open up the tournament.

Tulsa finished the regular season at 41-12, setting the mark for the third most wins in school history. Nineteen Conference USA victories this season are a school record.

To add to the big day, freshman pitcher Aimee Creger picked up her 22nd win of the season in a one-hit shutout, tying the TU single season wins record. Maren Genow also achieved 22 wins in 2004.

TU coach John Bargfeldt said he saw major improvements after the team’s long break, which will come in handy heading into the tournament.

"I am really proud of the girls," Bargfeldt said. "When I looked at the conference schedule, I thought we had the toughest schedule, in terms of who we played on the road and at home. I'm just really proud of how our players met that challenge."

The Golden Hurricane will open tournament play against Marshall at 10 a.m. on Thursday. The C-USA tournament runs May 12-14 in Greenville, N.C.