USF softball team wins AAC regular season crown

Roughly 30 minutes after the Lightning skated their way to a humongous series victory Sunday afternoon, USF's softball team sloshed its way to another.

Despite a four-hour rain delay, the Bulls (36-20, 14-7) got a four-hitter from freshman RHP Georgina Corrick to rally for a 3-1 victory Sunday against Wichita State (30-20, 12-9) to clinch the American Athletic Conference regular season title.

The teams were tied atop the league standings following the Shockers' 2-0 victory in Friday's series opener, but the Bulls responded with back-to-back triumphs. USF, picked to finish third in the conference's preseason poll, hosts the league tournament and opens play Thursday at 6:30 against No. 8 Connecticut.

"I never think you overachieve — you achieved," veteran coach Ken Eriksen said after Saturday's 6-1 victory that clinched a share of the regular season crown.

"So they have achieved things that people might not have thought they would have achieved. But if you asked every one of them prior to the season: 'You have a 56-game schedule, how many are you gonna win?' They're gonna say 56."

Even with Sunday's four-hour delay, when a sprinkle segued into a shower in the bottom of the third, Corrick never appeared to lose her sharpness. She allowed only one hit when play resumed, finishing with two strikeouts, no walks and two hit batters.

Wichita State got a run off two hits in the top of the first, but USF tied the score on Morgan Gross' bases-loaded sacrifice fly to center in the bottom of the second.

The Bulls took the lead for good in the bottom of the third when Astin Donovan and Lindsey Devitt opened with consecutive singles, and Macy Cook followed with a one-out fielder's-choice grounder that scored Donovan. Devitt finished 3-for-5 with an RBI in the series' final two contests.