Wichita State softball awaits NCAA seeding after upset AAC tournament loss to Tulsa
An at-large berth to the NCAA tournament should be awaiting the Wichita State softball team on Sunday evening, but this isn’t the way the Shockers wanted to be entering the postseason.
The late-season offensive slump continued for Wichita State on Friday afternoon in a stunning 2-1 loss in eight innings to No. 4 seed Tulsa in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals in Tampa, Fla. The Shockers are the first regular-season champion to not advance to the tournament finals in conference history.
With a 43-10 record, three top-10 wins and a RPI that should still be inside the top-25, the Shockers can be confident they will hear their name called in Sunday’s 6 p.m. selection show airing on ESPN2. But two straight losses to teams outside the RPI top-50 almost certainly extinguished WSU’s chances of hosting a regional, meaning the team will likely be sent on the road in postseason projections. WSU is eyeing its seventh NCAA regional bid and third straight, which would be a first in program history.
WSU had plenty of chances to break through on Friday, but stranded seven base runners (thanks to 1-for-15 hitting with runners on base) and had another two base runners called out attempting steals.
It continued a somewhat troubling trend for what had been an explosive Shocker offense that has now been muzzled for three straight games. WSU has mustered only 14 hits and four runs in its last three games after averaging 9.2 hits and 6.9 runs in its first 50 games.
Tulsa starter Maura Moore is far from overpowering in the circle, but she has given WSU’s lineup problems twice now in the last two weeks. The sophomore needed 119 pitches to work around five hits, four walks and a hit batter to limit WSU to a single run, as 18 of her 20 outs in play were fly outs.
After Tulsa took a 1-0 lead on a fielder’s choice in the top of the third inning, WSU tied the game in the bottom-half of the inning when Lauren Lucas delivered her 59th RBI of the year with a single back up the middle to plate Krystin Nelson, who had advanced to second base after stealing her first base of the season.
Tulsa threatened in the sixth inning with runners on first and third base and only one out, but the glove of Sydney McKinney allowed WSU to escape the jam. Rylee Keith lined a ball right at McKinney, who bent down to scoop it just off the ground and then fired a throw to first base to turn an inning-ending double play and strand the go-ahead runner 60 feet from home.
WSU’s best chance came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Lucas drew a lead-off walk, then stole second base with one out. But the Shockers couldn’t convert, as Lauren Mills popped out to left field and Sami Hood struck out looking on an inside fastball.
Tulsa struck first in extra innings, as Imani Edwards led off the top of the eighth inning with a double to the right-center gap. She advanced to third when WSU waited for a bunt to roll foul that never did, then scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly from Kylee Nash to left field.
WSU had to feel good about its chances with McKinney (nation’s leader in batting average), Addison Barnard (program’s all-time home run leader) and Lucas (seventh nationally in RBIs) due up in the eighth. But McKinney lined out, then Barnard reached on a bunt single only to be thrown out attempting to steal second. Lucas singled and Zoe Jones was hit by a pitch, but Mills flied out to center field on the first pitch to end the game.
It was a tough-luck loss to WSU ace Lauren Howell, who dropped to 18-4 this season. She didn’t have her best stuff, but the Arkansas transfer did enough — scattering seven hits and four walks with five strikeouts across eight innings — to give her team a chance to win.
But the hits never came and the Shockers’ bid to win their second straight AAC tournament championship ended in surprising fashion.
But it’s always better to work through struggles in wins, a lesson the Shockers will gladly try to learn from following Friday’s win.
