Houston Game 1: Beginning of a Sooner Surge?

[1KCSoonerFan]

I listened to the game on the radio, however, I missed the first three innings. I was glad when I tuned in that the Sooners already had a lead and were holding the Cougars to zero. (The last couple weeks had me a bit anxious to jump in the middle of a game and hear the squad was behind. In the past, even if another team was ahead by a couple runs, I knew it would probably not be enough to win - our bats and defense would eventually prevail....and usually they did....especially against the "weaker" competition.)

Merited or not, this year, I don't have the same amount of confidence when we are playing a weaker team. It's understandable when playing a powerhouse that it could go either way; their pitchers could hold us down, their bats can score some runs, and it could be a tight finish. Anything can and DOES happen all the time. I think dropping those two games to teams that should not be able to carry OU's cleats put some question marks in my Sooner psyche.

Did the win in Game 1 answer any questions for you? Create more questions? For me, Games 2 and 3 will give me a better feel, however, I was very glad to see a couple of good signs.

The pitching, especially with Maxwell, is looking good. Combined with Deal's terrific performance against Tulsa, I am feeling more confident about the staff. Keeney came in and came through. If May can get it going consistently, I will be feeling really confident.

OU finally got the hit to close out the game with a run-rule win! Jayda did it - and good for her! Hansen is hot! Torres is hot! Brito is warming up again! Jennings seems to fade in and out at the plate lately - her defense is holding solid game-to-game.

I was so glad the team was able to complete the run-rule-shut-out! That is a good sign to me that the bats are trending in a good direction. For awhile there, it seemed iffy if we were going to coast on in with a 7-0 win, or hammer in the last nail like we meant it. We brought the hammer this time.

Our offense, though potent, is the part of the team where we still need some work, IMO. The bats need to be good enough to pick up the pitching and defense when needed. I was glad to see the offense came through and ate the last French fry on the plate in Game 1.

[TN Sooner]

I saw something on another board that I am trying to take to heart:

OU doesn’t have to beat the ‘23/‘22/‘21 OU teams - they only have to beat the other 2024 softball teams out there. And even then, they don’t have to beat ALL the other ‘24 teams - only the ones that we play.

All OU had to do yesterday was beat Houston - and they did. I have a feeling Patty was happy it wasn’t a 4.5 inning run rule - she wanted Keeney to get some meaningful matchups and going to the 6th gave Keeney more chances.

All OU has to do today is beat Houston.

[1KCSoonerFan]

After Game 2....

....It seems like the team has some things figured out a little better. Sounded like we played with more energy and focus (on the field and in the dugout). It showed in the hot start on defense and offense, and several clutch plays.

Defense and pitching was solid again. Hitting/scoring took a healthy step forward. I hope the team feels good about themselves - they should.

Still some room to grow with scoring, as Destiny said on the radio, the Sooners have left 20 runners on base over the last two games. And it is true that this in and of itself is no big deal as long as enough of them score to win. Getting runners in the first place is great - and having 20 more on base than needed to win is impressive in itself! (I sense Coach is not going to be jumping up and down about this stat, however.)

I know perfection is not possible, and not required for me to be a fan, or for me to love this team. Part of the fun and fascination is observing how the team ebbs and flows - and what circumstances or motivations get the best out of THIS team. It is interesting to see the process of how this group is figuring out how to be the best they can be.

[AustinTXSooner]

I've heard people making a big deal about leaving 12 runners on base in the first Houston game. Well 3 of those 12 were because we walked it off in the 6th. We left 3 runners on base with only 1 out.

I've never put much weight on total LOB. A two out walk often ends in a runner LOB. If we score 4 runs in an inning and left 2 on, I'm not worried. I'm more interested in situational scoring. With the bases loaded and no outs, did we score at least 2 runs? Did we score with a runner on third and less than 2 outs?

[BudaSooner]

Situation: Game 3, bottom of the 1st, OU leads 2-0, runners on 1st & 3rd, one out, Hansen at the plate.

I don't normally second-guess our coaches' play-calling, but in this case I'll make an exception. With a player as seasoned and salty with a bat as K9, why would our coach calling plays tell Kinzie to bunt? (she popped it up for the 2nd out) and the runner on 1st stole 2nd , so it had the same effect as a sac bunt.
We wound up leaving runners at 2nd & 3rd when Hodge popped up to 2nd base.

I just think that Kinzie is too valuable with a bat in her hands to call for a bunt, but JMODMIR...

[TropicalSooner]

I don't complain as much about total LOB's like I used to, although the 30 we had this weekend just seems astronomical to me.

I am thrilled with our pitching. It seems to be a real position of strength right now. And our error free defense this weekend was just like it should be this time of year--excellent.

But what does frustrate me is the number of LOB's that are in scoring position. I don't know if there is a stat summary somewhere in the final book that shows that or if you just have to go to the play summary and add them up inning by inning, and I can't do that right now. I get that a two out walk will probably be a high percentage LOB--I'm ok with that. But with a runner on 3rd or 2nd and 3rd...we need to bring those runners home. Especially when we are playing against a team with pitchers that have 4, 5, 6, and higher ERA's I just can't imagine that Coach Gasso is happy about that, but what do I know? I'm just a fan trying not to fall off the ledge.

[inconnu]

I'm wondering what coach J.T. has to say about our tendency this year to not hit as well as expected from our past performance, especially since we haven't yet faced very many of the pitchers of reputation.

[EMan]

I just can't imagine that Coach Gasso is happy about that, but what do I know? I'm just a fan trying not to fall off the ledge.

I listened to Patty's post-game interview with Plank, and you are correct, she's not happy about that at all. OK, instead of saying "not happy", "frustrated" would probably be a better word. She actually said she was happy with the win, but was certainly not satisfied with it. She said they're trying to address the LOB issue but you could tell she's really frustrated with not getting the hits that could blow games wide open. And she said you can rest assured they are indeed trying to address the issue.

[inconnu]

Seems to me that Brito has some of the effective motivational traits that Lyons had, namely her spiritualism. I'm hoping she becomes more of an inspiration in the remaining games of this 2024 season, and all cylinders of the 2024 Sooner softball machine become operational.