Softball | 5/14/2021 10:15:00 PM
A nine-day layoff changed nothing for Wichita State. The Shockers mash and they will play for another championship on Saturday.
A nine-day layoff changed everything for
Lauren Mills, who mashed again after an absence and she is one of the reasons the Shockers will play for another championship.
The top-seeded Shockers handled fourth-seeded Tulsa 9-4 on Friday in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Championship at Tulsa's Collins Family Softball Complex. No. 24 Wichita State (38-11-1) broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning powered by Mills' grand slam.
"Last time we were at Tulsa, I didn't have such a good time," Mills said. "I not only wanted to shake that feeling and get myself back out there and get myself back up to where I need to be, my teammates also backed me up with all the energy they brought for me."
Wichita State plays third-seeded UCF (39-16-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2). The Shockers will play in a conference tournament championship game for the first time since 2016, when it won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
UCF advanced with a 3-2 win over second-seeded USF on Friday. The Knights won the tournament in 2015.
The Shockers won three games at UCF in mid-April and tied the series finale due to travel restrictions. They outscored UCF 15-2 over the four games with
Bailey Lange and
Caitlin Bingham throwing shutouts in the wins. Bingham returned to throw 10 1/3 scoreless innings in the 0-0 tie.
Both teams are expected to play in the NCAA Tournament, regardless of Saturday's outcome. The Shockers entered the weekend No. 27 in the NCAA's power ranking with UCF at No. 33.
"I think it will be a dogfight," third baseman
Ryleigh Buck said. "They want to play us more than anyone else, just because of the way it ended and we're the same way."
Tulsa (25-16) won the three previous tournament championships, in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Weather cancelled the 2019 tournament in Houston during the quarterfinals. The COVID-19 pandemic ended the 2020 season in March.
Between the weather and the pandemic, the Shockers compiled little history in the tournament in their three previous seasons as an American member. They went 0-1 in 2018 and 1-0 in 2019 before weather ended the tournament.
That changed a bit on Friday in their first semifinal appearance with Mills, Buck and second baseman
Kaylee Huecker providing pop near the bottom of the order. Huecker doubled twice and drove in two runs. Buck singled, walked and scored three runs.
Freshman
Addison Barnard, batting second, went 3 for 3 and scored twice. Lange started and held Tulsa to three earned runs and four hits over five innings.
Mills went 3 for 18 to fall out of the lineup late in the season and had not homered since April 16. She blasted the ball this week in practice, coach
Kristi Bredbenner said, so much so that assistant coach
Elizabeth Economon heard the ball off the bat and stopped video work to watch.
"She probably hit 75 percent of them out and the other 25 percent were rocket line drives," Bredbenner said. "She was on time, she was using her legs. A couple weeks ago I got on her a little bit because she was taking the outside pitch much. Sometimes, she gets a little picky."
On Friday, Mills looked confident and aggressive and hit her 10th
homer of the season. She singled in a run in the third inning. In the fourth, she powered a 3-2 rise ball over the scoreboard in left-center field to give the Shockers a 9-2 lead.
"She has never given up – that's the one thing I love about her," Bredbenner said. "Every single day at practice she's trying to be the best version of herself and she never gets down when she's not in the lineup."
It was the 91st
home run of the season for Wichita State, which entered the weekend third nationally.
"I had so much energy behind me and so much good vibes behind me from my teammates," Mills said. "My teammates were just amping me up and charging me up and giving all the stuff I need up at the plate."
Buck walked ahead of Mills on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. She expected good things to follow.
"There are times when you just know (Mills) is going to really hit one well and that was the feeling in the whole place," Buck said. "With (Mills), you can tell when she's on time and she's seeing the ball well."
Bredbenner expects UCF to throw all-conference pitcher Alea White, who pitched 6 1/3 innings Thursday and three Friday. White held the Shockers to two hits and struck out nine in the 0-0 tie on April 18. Gianna Mancha earned second-team all-conference honors for the Knights and threw four scoreless innings vs. USF on Friday.
The Shockers will likely start Lange with Bingham on call.
"We just have to be aggressive on strikes and make (White) bring something into the zone and let her provide the power," Bredbenner said. "They both throw hard. They're both more in than they are out and more up than they are down. We're going to have to flatten out our barrels a little bit."
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
