There’s nothing like a home-field advantage.
Playing only its third and fourth home games of the year, all of which have been this weekend, Kansas University’s softball team won twice Sunday to win its Holiday Inn Invitational.
The Jayhawks defeated Tulsa, 8-3, in the championship game Sunday afternoon at Jayhawk Field.
“It was nice to come home and win our tournament,” KU coach Tracy Bunge said. “That’s the way it should be.”
Kansas (12-13) defeated Loyola-Chicago, 7-2, in the morning to advance to the title game.
The Golden Tornado who had defeated KU, 6-4, in round-robin play Saturday came out strong, taking a 3-0 lead through the top of the third.
Bunge was a bit worried about falling behind Tulsa again, but the team wasn’t.
“I could see a look in a few of the kids’ eyes and my gut saying, ‘Here we go again,'” Bunge said, “but the difference today was several people stepped up and said we weren’t going to let it happen again.”
Amy Hulse led off the bottom of the third with a single to right and scored on a Megan Urquhart single. The Jayhawks then scored six runs on five hits in the bottom of the fourth to take control of the game.
“Amy Hulse kind of started things off,” Bunge said, “and then a slew of people did a lot of good things behind her and we made some things happen offensively.”
Courtney Wright drove in the Jayhawks’ second run on a fielder’s choice, with Leah Tabb beating the throw home from first base, and Shelly Muser tied the game a batter later by stealing home.
“The biggest key was again, we got some speed people on and we were able to run,” Bunge said. “I felt like we stole a run or two with some running, some good execution on the basepaths. When this team does those kinds of things, that’s when I think we’re at our best.”
Wright scored on an error by the third baseman a batter later, Hulse scored on an Erin Garvey single, Leah Hansen scored on a Christi Musser single and Urquhart drove in Garvey with a single to left.
Urquhart drove in KU’s final run with a double in the sixth inning for the 8-3 victory. She finished the tournament 9-of-14 with 10 RBIs and was named the tournament MVP.
“Before this I wasn’t too confident with my swing and this week I’ve been working real hard on my swing,” Urquhart said. “I just went out there and relaxed and I felt like I was seeing the ball really well.”
Kara Pierce threw the complete game victory for the Jayhawks. She gave up five hits, struck out five batters, and was named the tournament’s most valuable pitcher.
In KU’s first game, Loyola-Chicago scored twice in the first inning, but Kansas scored four runs in the third to take the lead.
“I do believe that this team really believes they can come back from deficits,” Bunge said, “and that’s a lot different from the team we had last year where we didn’t score many runs.”
Shelly Musser led off with a triple and stole home for the Jayhawks’ first run, and Urquhart drove in Garvey and Hansen five batters later then scored on a wild pitch.
KU’s final three runs came on a steal of home by Dani May, a Shelly Musser triple and an Urquhart double.
“Shelly’s been struggling,” Bunge said of the outfielder, who’s suffered through a sprained ankle and the flu this year. “It was a lot of fun to see her come out of it. She’s a big, important part of our offense so to have her back swinging the bat well is and looking confident is a big positive for us.”
Shelly Musser and Erin Garvey, along with Urquhart and Pierce, both were named to the all-tournament team.
Kirsten Milhoan won the game for KU, allowing just three hits.
