Cook hits first career grand slam, Corrick sets career high in strikeouts in Bulls’ shutout victory over Tulsa

Macy Cook (11) hit her first career grand slam to walk-off Tulsa on Friday at the USF Softball Stadium. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/GOUSFBULLS

After more than seven scoreless innings, catcher Macy Cook’s walk-off grand slam won USF softball (23-12, 1-0) the first game of the series against Tulsa (19-9, 0-1) 4-0 in eight innings in the opening game of AAC play on Friday at the USF Softball Stadium.

Cook went 1-for-3 against the Golden Hurricane but her only hit led to her first career grand slam.

“It felt amazing. I knew the way it felt off the bat that it was going far, if not all the way,” Cook said. “My senior year, there was no way I wasn’t getting the walk-off.”

The Bulls gained momentum at the plate in the bottom of the eighth, when Megan Sheehan, Lindsey Devitt and Bethaney Keen hit consecutive singles to load the bases.

With only one out, all Cook needed was a sacrifice fly or a base hit to win the game. She wasn’t even thinking of going for the grand slam.

“I just wanted to barrel the ball up,” Cook said. “That’s the last thing I was thinking and I knew I just needed to get the runs in and [Georgina Corrick] was pitching a heck of a game and I wanted to do it for her and the rest of my team.”

Corrick recorded a career high 16 strikeouts and struck out at least one in every inning and was two strikeouts away from the program record for single-game strikeout. She now has a total of 116 strikeouts in 85 innings this season.

“It was a rough umpiring game so we were having to kinda go in the zone a little bit more and with that we were definitely getting more Ks,” Corrick said. “I think the big thing was just getting the first batter out every time and we were really lucky.”

Corrick’s tight and consistent pitching throughout the game helped earn her 12th win of the season.

“I honestly love games like that where it was a little bit of a pitching battle,” Corrick said. “In those last innings we came out on top and to really hold them like that and to make that mark with my K record is always really nice.”

Stamina wasn’t an issue for Corrick, as she pitched eight full innings, which tops her previous complete game record.

“I kinda just go out there and do my thing for as long as they need me to do my thing,” Corrick said. “Whether it’s 16 innings or five innings, I don’t really mind. I just like being out there.”

The rest of the team was definitely appreciative of Cook and Corrick’s efforts, as Keen dumped cups of Powerade on the catcher and pitcher and Devitt showered them with a cooler full of ice after the game.

With a win under its belt, USF will take the field against Tulsa on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. for the second game of the series.