TU Softball: Golden Hurricane Blanks Mississippi Valley State

Freshman Emily Watson pitched a one-hit shutout, Brittany Walker drove in two runs and Erica Sampson scored two runs to lead the Tulsa softball team to a 7-0 win over Mississippi Valley State Sunday afternoon at the Jeannine McHaney Memorial Classic at Rocky Johnson Field.

Watson struck out nine batters in the shutout to improve to 4-2 on the season, while the Golden Hurricane moved to 16-8. The only baserunner allowed by Watson came on a dribbler in front of the plate with one out in the seventh inning.

The Golden Hurricane will play at North Texas at 4 p.m. Monday in Denton, Texas. The game, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was moved up one day due to inclement weather in the forecast for Tuesday.

Tulsa got the scoring started with a run in the bottom of the first inning, when Sampson walked and later scored on an error. TU extended its lead to 4-0 with three runs in the third inning. Sampson hit a one-out triple and scored on Julie Kernen's RBI base hit to right field. After a double by Catherine Horner, Walker singled up the middle, scoring both Kernen and Horner.

TU added two runs in the fourth inning on a solo home run by Maddie Withee, and an RBI single by Shelby Estocado. The scoring hit by Estocado scored Kate Myers, who followed Withee's homer with a single up the middle.

Tulsa plated its seventh run in the sixth on an RBI single by Sampson that plated Maggie Withee, who reached on an error to lead off the frame.