No. 2 Tulsa clinches spot in title game with 6-1 win over No. 6 UCF

Golden Hurricane will play either East Carolina or Houston on Saturday

Second-seeded Tulsa took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first and never looked back. The Golden Hurricane went on to collect a 6-1 victory over No. 6 UCF in the seminfinals of the Conference USA Softball Tournament at the ECU Softball Field on Friday afternoon.

The Golden Hurricane (42-12), who collected a 10-0 victory in five innings over Marshall on Thursday, went up 2-0 in the first when Samantha Cobb connected on a two-run homer.

UCF (22-31) cut the lead in half in the third when Patrice Fee produced a solo shot—one of the few mistakes that Tulsa starter Aimee Creger made.

Tulsa tacked on three more in the fifth. Caitlin Everett led off with a single and was moved to second on a sac bunt by Jill Barrett. After Lacey Middlebrooks drew a walk, Skylar Swanson struck out swinging, but reached on a throwing error by the catcher. Everett and Middlebrooks scored to make it 4-1. Creger proceeded to help her own cause by singling to make it 5-1.

The Golden Hurricane got its final run in the sixth when Kelly Chapman homered to extend the lead to 6-1.

Creger went the distance and allowed just four hits for Tulsa. She struck out six while walking just one.

Diana Rojas suffered the loss for UCF, as she allowed six runs—three earned—on eight hits in 5.1 innings.

Caitlin Everett led Tulsa at the plate with her 3-for-4 effort. Aimee Creger and Kelly Chapman also had multi-hit games with two hits each.

UCF leadoff batter Allie Jest had two of the Knights four hits.

Tulsa will meet the winner of No. 1 Houston and No. 5 East Carolina at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the CUSA Tourney title game.