USF Softball: A Promising 2024 Season

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The USF Softball team had a good season that ended in the AAC tournament. Head coach Ken Eriksen had another good season as head coach. From my time viewing USF Bulls baseball, they were out practicing or playing games. The Bulls played in many different tournaments to start the season. The first tournament of the year was the USF-Rawlings Tournament. It featured six teams including the Bulls the other five teams were Illinois State Redbirds, Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, Michigan Wolverines, Oregan State Beavers, and Florida Gators. It was a winning tournament for USF. They defeated the Redbirds, Wildcats, and Wolverines. The biggest win was versus the Wildcats with a 10-0 win that only lasted five innings. The worst loss of the two they suffered came against the Gators as they fell 12-3. The Bulls also lost to the Beavers 7-1. Before the next tournament started, they defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 4-1.

The next tournament started the day after Valentine’s Day February 15th. This was called the Fonseca Memorial Tournament. This one also had six teams. The other five were the UIC Flames, Boston College Eagles, Perdue Boilermakers, and Hofstra Pride. Just like the first one it was a successful tournament. In the six games they went 3-1. The last two were canceled due to weather. The Bulls won against the Flames, both games against the Eagles, and the Boilermakers. The Pride did not play USF because of Mother Nature. The next series of games was tilted South Florida Showdown. It was the same setup as the previous series of games they played in. The other five teams were the Washington Huskies, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Loyola-Chicago Ramblers, Pitt Panthers, and Yale Bulldogs. Once again in the five games, USF went 3-2. The wins came against Loyola-Chicago, Pitt, and Yale.

The next two games came against the Stetson Hatters and the USF Bulls won both games by a combined 11-2. It was the last tournament before conference play started. The USF Tournament had another five teams. The Louisville Cardinals, Villanova Wildcats, Central Michigan Chippewas, and the Georgia-Southern Eagles would be. The only defeat the Bulls took was to Georgia-Southern losing 7-3. As conference play started the Bulls were looking good. All these games and tournaments all happened at home in Tampa. Before their first road trip, they had three games against the Charlotte 49ers who are new to the conference. USF won the first game of the three-game series and fell in the last two. The first road trip was in Fort Myers against the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. It was a double-header and USF split it.

At this point, only three non-conference games left for the USF Bulls. The first of those two games took place at home. A doubleheader versus the Colgate Raiders the Bulls won both games. The next one may have one of the biggest upsets in college softball. Earlier in the year the Gators beat the Bulls handily. This time they went on the road and fell behind early 3-0 but in the fifth, the game changed. USF scored six runs and added another one in the sixth. They held off Florida and got some revenge beating the Gators 7-4. The first three conference series did not go well for the Bulls. Versus the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes, UAB Blazers, and North Texas Mean Green, USF is only one of the three against each of these teams.

The next two conference series were good for the USF Bulls. They swept the Memphis Tigers and two out of three from the Wichita State Shockers. The next two series were like the previous three with USF only taking one out of three games. The two series were against the East Carolina Pirates and FAU Owls. In the final series of the season, they played the UTSA Roadrunners on the road they took two out of three and punched their ticket to the AAC Championship tournament. Unfortunately, they only lasted one game falling to the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes 2-1 meaning they went 1-3 against Tulsa. The Bulls had a great season with many great players coming back in 2025. One of those players is Peyton Dixon who seeing her pitch is amazing she does not give many hits when she is on point. Dixon made the NFCA All-Region team.

How will the offseason and transfer portal go for the USF Bulls softball? Leave a comment below.

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