Spring of Rings: USF Athletics Roundup

It’s time to catch up with the goings on around the Lee Roy Selmon Athletics Center in another edition of USF Athletics Roundup.

Men’s Tennis Goin’ Dancin’ For Fifth Time in Six Years

After defeating CFU in the American Athletic Conference tournament finals, head coach Ashley Fisher and his crew found out who and where they’re playing in the first round of the NCAA Tennis Tournament.

The Bulls (17-7) will face SEC foe Alabama (16-10) in the opening round of the tournament at the Texas Tennis Center in Austin, which begins on Friday. In the other side of the bracket, the Longhorns (23-3) will face Tennessee Tech (10-13).

Alabama fell to Florida 4-1 in the SEC quarterfinals. Texas fell to Baylor 4-1 in the Big 12 finals. Tennessee Tech defeated Jacksonville State 4-2 in the OVC finals to claim their fourth straight conference title.

Softball Cruising through AAC play

USF softball swept Memphis over the weekend to push their record to 38-15 (16-2 AAC) after starting the year 1-5.

The Bulls have been on an absolute heater over the last month. They’ve swept five straight conference series, have won nine in a row and are 15-1 over their last 16 games with the lone blemish being a 1-0 defeat against Florida.

Leading the charge has been sophomore ace Georgina Corrick, who has taken her game to the next level this season. She held opponents scoreless for 47.1 straight innings before allowing a run to score with two outs in the 7th inning of the series finale versus Memphis.

Corrick struck out 57 batters during the run, and has an ERA of 0.15 over her last seven appearances.

Prior to that run, the last time she let a team score was in that 1-0 loss to Florida on April 10.

For the sixth time this season, Corrick was named the AAC Pitcher of the Week and her battery mate, Macy Cook earned a honor roll nod for hitting .700 for the week.

USF has a two game lead over Tulsa in the battle for the regular season crown with three games to play.

The Bulls travels to Wichita State (29-23, 10-8) this weekend, while Tulsa travels to Connecticut (19-27, 7-11) to wrap up the season. The conference tournament begins May 9 in Houston.

Baseball Not Dead, Yet

USF baseball took two-of-three from Houston over the weekend for a much needed series win. It was their first series win in conference play and helped the Bulls have a fighting chance to get out of the cellar and into the conference tournament conversation.

The Bulls fought back on Friday night after falling behind 3-0 early to earn a 5-3 win thanks to a three-run sixth innings buoyed by a Houston error. RHP Baron Stuart tossed seven solid innings and Nelson Alvarez shut the door in the 8th and 9th to secure the win.

Freshman Alex Bello smashed a two-run walk-off home run on Sunday to claim the rubber match.

USF (21-21, 4-11 AAC) have nine more conference games against Memphis, UConn, and Wichita State to change their fortunes. This might be the spark they needed to get back to Clearwater.