Game 3, Sooner SB: 11 runs & 5 HRs later, Sooner Sweep, Win 11-7

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners finished their last Big 12 road series with an 11-7 win over Central Florida as the Sooners came from behind behind 5 HRs, 11 hits. 7 walks and a suicide squeeze bunt for the win.

Remember one thing: A D1 softball game is never, ever, over after the first inning.

Against Kaitlyn Felton (the starter in Game 1 for UCF), the Sooners loaded the bases in the top of the first on a HBP (Ella Parker), a two-out single (Kinzie Hansen) and a walk (Jayda Coleman) BUT left all three of them on the bases as the inning ended. Parker stole 2B with one out for her 15th stolen base of the year.

With one out, UCF picked up a walk with one out against Nicole May. With two outs, Chloe Evans of UCF hit her 2nd HR of the series to put UCF ahead 2-0. May recovered to get a lazy popup to SS to end the first as UCF lead 2-0.

Remember one thing: A D1 softball game is never, ever, over after the first inning, even if you leave 3 runners on base and give up a 2-out, 2-run HR.

Oklahoma opened the top of the 2nd with a fly out to RF. Rylie Boone then singled up the middle. Alynah Torres then ripped a line drive sing...eh line drive out to LF that Sarah Willis (the UCF pitcher from yesterday) caught on a very nice play in LF. (Yeah, I thought it was likely a double.) With 2-outs, Ella Parker stroked her own 2-out HR the other way to LF to tie the score at 2-2 as the inning ended on a popup in foul territory outside of first base.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Brito made a nice play on a bunt for the first out. The second hitter popped up to 1B. The third hitter (the #9 hole hitter) singled in the hole between SS and 3B. Sona Halajian then hit a 2-run HR to CF to put UCF up by two runs again, 4-2. The final out of the inning was made on a difficult, long running catch by Kasidi Pickering in foul territory up against the wall.

Remember one thing: A D1 softball game is never, ever, over after the second inning. Especially, when you are averaging over 8 runs a game through 48 wins in the current season.

In the top of the third, Oklahoma led off with two walks (Pickering and Kinzie Hansen) against Felton. During the second walk, Pickering moved to 3B from 1B on two wild pitches. UCF's coaches went to the bullpen and brought in the soft throwing lefty, Angelina DeVoe. Jayda Coleman laid down a solid bunt in front of the plate as Pickering was coming home all the way on a suicide squeeze. The ball was fielded by DeVoe and tossed nicely to the catcher in an attempt to tag Pickering, but Pickering made a great slide around the tag to touch the back corner of the plate and was safe all the way on the play as Hansen advance to 3B and Coleman moved to 2B. The UCF Coach, Cindy Ball-Malone, challenged the play at home and lost the review. It was her second loss on reviews of the game. (This was a key point later.) Strangely, Coleman was fielder's choice and a sacrifice with an RBI on the play. Alyssa Brito then singled to LF and moved to 2B on the throw home to drive-in two runs to make the score 5-4. Two batters later, Boone singled again to drive in Brito. That was it for DeVoe as UCF brought in Grace Jewell to pitch. Boone died on base as the next two Sooners made outs.

In the bottom of the 3rd, the Sooners brought in Kelly Maxwell in relief of May. Maxwell benefited from a nice play from Brito for the first out as Brito ranged to her left and threw out the UCF batter from her knees. Maxwell then completed the 1, 2, 3 inning.

Remember one thing: A D1 softball game is never, ever, over after the third inning, but you have to like your chances if you Oklahoma and lead 6-4.

In the top of the 4th, with one out, Pickering found a pitch in the hitting zone and hit a HR to right center for another Sooner run. Hansen followed with a single to LF. that was it for Jewell as UCF brought Katelyn Cochran to pitch. Cochran ended the inning with a popup to SS and walk and a strikeout as she stranded two runners on base for OU.

Central Florida opened the bottom of the 4th with a short-hop single to 2B. After a Maxwell strikeout, the next hitter singled to CF to put runners on 1st and 2nd. On a pitch down that Hansen blocked, the UCF runners tried to move up a base but Hansen threw a strike to Brito at 3B to catch the lead runner trying to steal 3B for the 2nd out of the inning. On the play, Coach Ball-Malone of UCF probably wanted to request a review as I think she thought Brito covered the leading edge of the bag and wanted an obstruction call. But she had already used her two reviews and could not challenge the play. Both of her reviews were denied. On the caught stealing play, the runner on first moved up to second base. With two outs, the next hitter doubled down the 3B line inside the bag and past Brito to plate the 5th run for UCF. The final out was made by Coleman on a very nice running catch in RC on the warning track to keep Maxwell out of further trouble. The Sooners lead 7-5 after 4 innings.

Remember one thing: A D1 softball game is never, ever, over after 4 innings. But in an offensive struggle, anything might happen on any given day.

Central Florida's Cochran quickly got two outs against the Sooners in the 5th. But, with Parker up, Ella said hello to her second 2 HR game with a solo shot to LF on a 2-2 pitch. On a 3-2, Tiare Jennings hit her 18th HR of the season and 91st of her career for her 300 career RBI to make the score 9-5 in favor of OU. That was it for Cochran as UCF brought in Sona Halajian to pitch. Halajian walked Pickering. Then Hansen cleared herself of a long HR drought as the hit a line drive HR to LC for a 11-5 lead for OU. The last time Hansen homered this season was in the first game at Texas Tech on March 15th before she injured her leg/knee in that game. Welcome back to the HR-Trot, Kinzie. Those four 2-out runs were big for Oklahoma as it turned out. UCF got the final out of the inning on a ground ball out to 2B. BTW, the 5 HRs in the game was the second time this year the Sooners have done that. the first was in the first game against Iowa State.

Kelly Maxwell regained her form as she recorded her second 1, 2, 3 inning against UCF. The first out was made as Coleman made another nice catch in RC field on a deep fly ball. Avery Hodge replaced Torres at 2B and Riley Ludlam replaced Hansen at catcher before the bottom of the 5th.

Remember one thing: A D1 Softball game is never, ever, over even if you hit 5 HRs in a game unless you are leading by 8 runs after the 5th inning. 8 not 6 runs. But your odds a very good your lead will stand up if you do.

In the top of the 6th inning, UCF brought back the starting pitcher Felton. Oklahoma got a 1-out walk by Sanders with Maya Bland pinch-running and a 2-out slap single by Hodges that bounced over the UCF third base player before the inning ended. The Sooners had left 8 runners on base at this point in addition to scoring 11 runs.

In the bottom of the the 6th, Aubrey Evans opened the inning with a deep fly ball to CF that bounced off the lower fence bar and into the pitcher's eye screen to stay in the field of play for a double. I thought Pickering did a good job on the play to backup Coleman as the ball bounced back well into the field of play. If Pickering had not been there the play might have resulted in a triple. The next hitter reached base on an error by Hodge at 2B to put runners on 1st and 3rd. The third hitter popped up to 1B for the first out of the inning for Maxwell. the next hitter grounded to SS and OU tried to turn the double play to end the inning but the runner was just safe at 1B as the runner from 3B scored to make the score 11-6. Maxwell got another ground ball to SS for a fielder's choice at 2B for the final out of the inning.

Remember one thing: A D1 game is never, ever, over through 6 innings, unless you have that 8 run lead and the game is a run-rule victory.

In the top of the 7th, with one out, Pickering walked for her second time in the game and was replaced by Hannah Coor as a pinch runner. Ludlam batted in Hansen's place and was struck out by Felton. Coleman made the final out of the top of the 7th as the game moved to the bottom of the 7th with the Sooners leading 11-6. Coor stayed in the game to play LF.

In the bottom of the 7th, Maxwell got the first our on a lazy popup to Jennings at SS. When Coach Gasso went to the circle, a pitching change was going to happen with one out. Kierston Deal was called upon to pitch and end the game by getting two outs. On a 1-1 pitch, Deal got the ball over the plate a bit too much and Shannon Doherty hit a HR to LC to make the score 11-7. On the next pitch, Jada Cody singled to left field. The dangerous Chloe Evans grounded the ball to the right of Hodge at 2B. As Hodge tried to shovel the ball to Jennings at 2B for the force, the ball was thrown to far inside of the bag and everyone was safe for UCF on the error on the throw. Yeah, this was supposed to be easier to finish this, right? Deal steadied herself and got a popup to Sanders at 1B who caught the ball with a bit of a yellow snow cone showing as the ball was seen over the end of the glove for the 2nd out of the inning. Deal finished the game with a swinging strikeout on three pitches to the final batter.

Sooners win, 11-7.

Remember one thing: Just believe in the Sooners ability to win a D1 softball game. The Sooners have done that 221 times in their last 233 games for a winning percentage of 94.8% of those games. Simply show faith in them and this group of players led by Hansen, Boone, Jennings, Coleman and May. Never doubt them. Never give up on them.

It is a fact that the Sooners pitching in this game was not their best form. BUT, it was just the 4th game all season that the Sooners have given up 4 runs and 3rd time they had given up more than 4 runs. Before today, the Sooners are 2-2 in those games. The two losses were to Louisiana and to BYU. It is a goof thing that today the offense matched up with the less than desired pitching to produce the win for the Sooners. If we are worried about the Sooner pitching when they have only given up 4 or more runs FOUR times, wow.....that is a huge expectation about a pitching staff. They will bounce back and be fine I believe. In giving up the 7 earned runs, the Sooners ERA is all the way up to 1.66. That will still be in the Top 5 in the country. Maybe a position or two above that. Isn't that okay?

On offense the Sooners picked up 11 hits with 5 HRs, 7 walks and a 7 strikeouts, a sacrifice squeeze FC, a stolen base, a HBP, and 2 errors on the day. The Sooners accumulated 20 base runners and scored 11 runs leaving 9 of them on base. If you score 11, leave 9 and hold the other team to 7 runs you will always win. Always.

The Sooners won the series 23 - 10. They won all three games. They won a 2-1 game for their 2nd 1-run win of the season. The other was the 403 win over Washington the first weekend. the Sooners also have had two 1-run losses this season to Texas. So in one-run games the Sooners are 2-2.

The Sooners hold a one game advantage in the Big 12 conference race with a 21-3 record over Texas who is 20-4 and two game lead over Oklahoma State with their 19-5 conference record. At this point, I will take that. All three teams are probably no-worse than one of the Top 5 or 6 teams in the country. It will be truly Bedlam in Love's Field this weekend. going back to 2000 season, the Cowgirls' HAVE NOT WON a game against the Sooners in Norman. Not one time.

Two more things that I left out.

1) Today's game was one of the few where the Sooner pitcher or pitchers did not throw 60% of their pitches for strikes. Today, was the 9th game under 60% this season. In fact, today's strike percentage was under 50% at 49.5% at 55 of 111 pitches. Only, Nicole May was under 50% though. She threw 18 strikes in 39 pitches. That is 46.2%. that is where May had her issue today. I think if she throws strikes early in the count, she will be fine going forward.

2) The errors this seires were really high with 6 errors in the 3 games. That is now 23 for the season for a .982 Fielding %. That will still be in the Top 3 teams in the country at the end of the weekend probably. Not quite Oklahoma softball, but still very good. With a good series (especially at 2B) against OSU, the Sooners will be back on top going into the Big 12 Tourney.

Boomer Sooner!

The Sooners will be ready for the Cowgirls and Koach Kenny next weekend.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Sooners 3rd win over Central Florida on Sunday.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/4/28 ... eep-of-ucf

Boomer Sooner!

[123gone]

OU gonna have to play much better to avoid the sweep by OSU or dropping two games