Westbrook’s appointment
Men’s tennis Head Coach was named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Board of Directors on Friday, and he was one of six from across the country. The new Board of Directors will serve a two-year term, and includes six head coaches, various Athletic Directors, one University president and several executives and entrepreneurs not associated with any schools. This isn’t Westbrook’s first time in such a role, as he has previous experience serving on the ITA National Board of Directors and the ITA Operating Committee. On Tulsa’s campus, the Michael D. Case Tennis Center serves as one of his greatest achievements, because the facilities along with Westbrook’s involvement have helped Tulsa host NCAA Division I Championships three times (the third being this upcoming May), and serves as the home of the Saint Francis Health Systems ITA All-American Men’s Tennis Championships, one of the premier events in college tennis.
Softball wins and losses
The Golden Hurricane softball team had their toughest week yet, playing in-state rival Oklahoma State and then traveling to Orlando to play against UCF, the defending conference champions, and projected winners again this year. In their game against Oklahoma State, the Golden Hurricane scored four runs in each of the first two innings, including a first-inning grand slam by sophomore Shelby Estocado, her ninth home run of the season. With an eight-run lead early in the game, Caitlin Sill didn’t need anymore run support, pitching a two-hitter shutout, her fifth shutout of the season so far. Head Coach John Bargfeldt talked about the early run support saying, “Getting the early runs was huge, because so many times you come up with bases loaded and nobody out and you get one run or nothing. For us to get four runs with one swing of the bat was a big factor in the game today. I told them we had to keep our foot on the pedal, and keep having quality at bats. I thought we did a good job of having some quality at bats throughout the game.” Later in the week in their series against Central Florida, Tulsa would drop the first two games of the series 1–4. In the first game, the Golden Hurricane could only get four hits, as UCF starter Shelby Turnier struck out seven in the complete-game win. The biggest hurt for Tulsa was the three errors and six-walks which helped set up UCF’s runs in the fifth and sixth innings. The second game was a similar story, as Caitlin Sill took just her second loss of the season allowing seven hits and four runs, all unearned. Bargfeldt said “With the walks and the freebie errors, we’re just playing under pressure every inning. We need the experience of some of those games. There have been a lot of games this year where we haven’t been in that situation.” In the final, the Golden Hurricane fell 1–3. Sill pitching for the second straight day, gave up two runs over four innings, and earned he third loss of the season. Jodi Edmiston drove in the lone run for the Golden Hurricane with a single in the first inning. But the Knights responded with a run in the first, third and fifth innings. Their overall record now sits at 27–10 and 5–4 in conference play.
Tennis update
After two wins over top-25 foes last week, the Golden Hurricane men’s tennis team got another win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Monday, but dropped their next match against No. 11 Texas Tech 1–4 on Friday afternoon. Their wins from last week pushed them to No. 18 in the country, and depending on how their match goes on Sunday against the University of New Mexico, they would probably stay around that same rank heading into the final week of the regular season. On the women’s side they beat conference foe Houston 5–2, and in their final match of the regular season on Sunday they fell 3–4 against Rice. The next match for the women’s team is the American Athletic Conference Tournament hosted by Memphis on April 20–23.
