OU SB: G #3 in Austin: 2-1 loss. Series ended 1-2. Some thoughts

[OUBeliever56A]

Well, there are weekends like the weekend in Austin for every team most every year. As Sooner fans, we have not witnessed one of these weekends in Big 12 play in many years as has been documented. I think what can be shown is that the weekend actually boiled down to a sequence of less than 4 pitches twice that made the difference in the series.

In Game 3, Maxwell and Deal pitched well, certainly well enough to win the game. But in that fateful 4th inning for the second game in a row, Texas scored two runs. After 2 outs in 3 pitches on a ground out to 1B and to SS, the game was won quickly by Texas. On the first pitch to Martinez, Maxwell hit her with a pitch. On the third pitch to Stewart, she hit a high moonshot fly ball that cleared the LF wall by about 5 feet as the ball came dropping down to earth at about a 75 degree angle. The ball was literally in side the fence until about 20 feet above the fence.

Pitching can be brutal sometimes. In the other 5 innings in game three, Texas had 2 hits, a walk and a HB. each of those were in different innings. Only once did Texas have a runner in scoring position (after a 2-out triple). 5 innings of very effective pitching by mostly Maxwell and then relief help by Deal. How cruel those two pitches were in the 4th.

What made the Sooner pitching even more brutal to take was the Sooner offense. The Sooners left 8 of 9 runners on base. Really they left 8 or 8 runners on base because Parker was never on base as she trotted around the bases after her leadoff HR to open the 3rd inning. In the Sooner 1st inning a 2-out walk to Brito did not lead to anything. In the 2nd inning, a 1-out double by Pickering did not lead to anything. In the 3rd, after the Parker solo HR, Coleman walked and with one out Jennings singled to move Coleman to 2B. A fly out and a popup ended the inning. In the 4th, a walk (Pickering) and a 2-out single by Parker lead to no runs on a hard hit liner to CF for the inning's final out. In the 5th, Hansen's 2-out single up the middle led to nothing. In the 6th, a one out HB for Sanders led to nothing due to a line drive double play hit to 1B. in the 7th, a Jennings 2out single led to nothing. The Sooners had 5 at bats with a runner on 2nd base and did not pick up a single that might have scored the tying run. The Sooners left 8 runners on base with 3 on 2nd base

Kavan and Czech scattered 6 hits, 3 walks and a HB in 7 inning of pitching. They pitched well enough to win a high percentage of games, but the Stewart HR made the win possible.

For the game, OU as 6 of 26 with 2 EBH, 10 Total Bases plus 4 free bases. Texas was 3 for 23 with 1 EBH, 4 total bases plus 3 walks. It is a game that the Sooners rarely lose but they lost this one in a span of 4 pitches as the Sooners left 8 runners on base.

in Game #2, the scenario for May was much the same. May pitched 4.2 innings and scattered 5 hits and 1 walk against 6 Ks. To open the 4th inning, Scott singled up the middle on a harmless ground ball. May responded with two straight strikeouts of Atwood and Washington. On the 1st pitch, Martinez doubled between Boone and Coleman into LC and drove in Scott who scored from first base. Then on the next pitch from May, Stewart doubled again to score Martinez. and Texas once again took a 2-1 lead in the 4th inning.

May allowed 2 hits and 1 walk in the other 4.1 innings of her start. May got the final out of the 4th on fielders choice hit to 2B. She opened the 5th inning by allowing a single to Maloney in front of the left fielder. May once again struck out the next two batters. seeming to be in control of her game, May was then lifted for Deal to finish the inning. Deal did just that facing the left-handed hitter Scott as Deal got a ground ball to SS that Jennings made a pretty good play on for the out. The inning that followed in the bottom of the the was by far the least successful inning pitched during the weekend but somehow did not give up a run thanks to a review which found that a Texas runners had left early on a big hit to score one run for Texas. But Keeney, the 3rd Sooner pitcher in the inning got out of a bases loaded jam on a ground ball to 2B.

In Game #2, the 4th innings was key just like the 4th in Game #3.

On offense in the 2nd game, OU had 6 hits with 2 doubles and 0 walks and a HBP. Texas also had 6 hits, 2 with 3 doubles and walks an 1 HBP. Gutierrez pitched a very nice game after the first inning. She allowed 3 singles including a double and 0 (zero) walks with 1 HB in the other five innings. She kept the ball down the entire game. I cannot tell you the last time the Sooners did not have a walk in a game. The Boone double was on the last play of the game when Bland was out at the plate on a tag by Atwood that has been discussed thoroughly. After the first inning, Oklahoma only had a runner in scoring position one time for two batters in the top of the 6th.

The difference might have been a play with two outs in the first inning of the game. OU opened with a single by Coleman. After a line drive out and a fielder's choice, Pickering doubled to RC that hit the LC wall about midway. Brito was held at 3B. Jennings followed with a single to RC on a little looper over the second base player where Brito scored from 3rd base and Pickering only advanced to 3B. On the play, Pickering remained on the base as 2B, presumably thinking there were less than 2 outs and did not get a jump on the single and therefore did not have a chance to score. While it is thought she would have scored, no one really knows if that would have been true. But Pickering should have been off on contact and at least gave Coach Gasso a chance to say, stop or go score. Not getting as many runs as the Sooners could get in the first innings ended up being the difference along with the back-to-back doubles by Texas.

My other thoughts:

Oklahoma outhit Texas .247 to .179 for a BA. Oklahoma had a slightly better OB% and a better Slugging % and a better ERA of 2.21 to 2.33. But all that does not matter. The series swung on about 6 pitches that were positive for the Longhorns and were not by the Sooners. The Sooners had chances in the 3rd game to score more than 1 run but failed to cash in.

As I said above, it was an unusual weekend. I was uneasy about the weekend from the time the season started. Texas has added some very good talent the last two seasons. I am surprised though, that the Sooners could not score more than 2 runs in 2 of the games, even against good pitching.

The sun did rise this morning and there will be some unusual darkness in a bit, but the season will continue.

Right now my Top 5 teams would be probably, Oklahoma, Duke, Texas, Tennessee and Stanford with LSU and Oklahoma State on the 5 teams heels. I do not know the order of the five/seven teams however. I believe that OU and Duke are the only two with 3 losses while the rest of them have 6 or more I think. LSU has 5 with Florida to play tonight. But I would say that the margin between the #1 and the #7 is probably less than we have seen the last four years.

On to Wichita State on Tuesday. BTW, they can play and you know the saying, any team, any time can surprise.

Boomer Sooner!