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AAC Tournament WALK-OFF Part 2: USF Softball Wins Second Straight Thriller

The Bulls walk it off against Memphis in the semi-finals of the AAC Conference Tournament to clinch a spot in the Final.

By Anthony Vito
@anthonyvito_

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, USF softball rallies for an 8-7 victory in the American Athletic Conference Tournament semi-finals against Memphis on Friday afternoon to advance to the Finals against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The championship will be Saturday at noon at the USF Softball Complex and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

Senior JoJo McGill (5-2) comes away with the victory in relief after a back and forth game which had the Bulls rally from multiple runs twice in the game. After a tilt last night that had no runs scored until the sixth, Memphis started the scoring right off the bat with a one out single and fielder’s choice to go up 2-0 in the first off of SP Cheyenne Eggens, but the Bulls stampeded back in the home half with an RBI-single by sophomore Brooke Hartman and a three-run moonshot HR by catcher Macy Cook to go up 4-2.

The lead lasted into the 4th where the Tigers came roaring back. Three-straight hits with no outs scored a couple of earned runs followed by an error and wild pitch bringing in another couple of unearned runs to put Memphis up 6-4.

The Bulls didn’t go down swinging in the bottom of the 4th scoring an unearned run of their own when Jasmine Haynes reached first base on a muffed catch by the Memphis first baseman and was driven in by junior Lindsey Devitt to cut the lead 6-5.

Memphis added to their lead in the top of the fifth making it 7-5, but the bottom of the fifth is when the USF rally gets started.

Senior Cassidy Boyle blasted a solo HR of her own and Lauren Evans came through with a two-out single which drove home Anamarie Bruni to tie the game at 7-7.

The score stayed the same until the bottom of the 7th and the Bulls eyeing another extra-inning game. With two outs and a runner on second, junior Samantha Worrell slapped a 1-1 count over the second baseman driving in pinch-runner Kyndall Williams to walk it off once again.

The Bulls will attempt to dethrone back-to-back conference tournament champion Tulsa, and get their revenge from their finals loss in 2016, to be the undisputed heayweight American Athletic Conference Champion.

Let’s hope there’s a little more magic left in the tank.