OU Softball 1st Weekend Recap: 5-0 Start - Big 12 Wrap-Up

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The Oklahoma Sooners opened the 2023 Softball Season this weekend with 5 wins against 3 ranked teams and one more tourney team in 2022. The start was successful, but not exactly as most Sooner fans thought it would.

In the first game, OU defeated Duke 4-0 behind a strong pitching effort by Jordy Bahl with a CG 4-hit, 2 walk, 8 K shutout. Four Sooners drove in one run as Haley Lee and Grace Lyons had 2 hits in the game.

In the second game on Thursday, OU defeated Liberty 1-0 in 8 innings again behind a strong pitching performance by Nicole May. May tossed a CG 4-hit, 2-walk, 1-HB with 10 Ks shutout in the game. The winning run by OU was scored in the bottom of the 8th on a sacrifice bunt by Alyssa Brito as Liberty tossed the ball wide of first allowing Bahl to score from second base on the play to end the game.

OU’s bats found the softball in the 3rd game as they defeated Stanford 10-1 in a 6-inning run rule game. Tiare Jennings had 3 hits as Jennings, Lee had 2 RBIS and Brito added 3 RBIs on a double. Lee also hit their first HR of the season in the game. Meanwhile, Storako cruised through 5.2 innings allowing 3 hits, 1 walk, with 6 K to get the win. The lone run against Storako was a solo HR in the 4th inning. Freshman Kiersten Deal entered the game for her first appearance and got the final out of the game on one pitch, a check swing ground out to 3B.

In what was billed as the big game of the weekend, OU defeated Washington 5-4. Oklahoma rallied from behind to take a 3-1 lead after the 1st inning. They padded their lead in the 3rd with two more runs to take a 5-2 lead. Washington rallied in the 4th to cut the lead to 5-4 but the rally was stopped by Nicole May in a key relief outing for Oklahoma. Brito had another 2-RBI with her first HR of the season. Cydney Sanders added 2 (not 3) RBIs on a single back up the middle as eight Sooners had hits. Bahl was not her usual self in the game as she had a control problem in her 3.2 innings. As mentioned, May entered in the 4th inning and stopped a Washington rally that was threatening to take the lead. May pitched the final 3.1 innings of the game to preserve the win. She allowed one hit and 3 walks with 8 Ks in her relief effort. She got the save in the game, with Bahl getting the win. The official scorer should probably have given the win to May as she pitched very well, plus the rules indicate that as well.

In the final game of the weekend (not season), OU defeated San Jose 9-0 in their first 5-inning run rule game of the season. Deal got the start and the win in the game as she pitched 4 innings allowing 1 hit, 2 walks and 5 Ks in her first start as a Sooner. Storako finished the game pitching the 5th inning and allowed 1 hit and 1 walk and 1 K in her inning. The OU offense was lead by Grace Green who hit a Grand Slam in her first at bat of the season as a pinch-hitter and by freshman Jocelyn Erickson who also hit a solo HR in the 3rd inning. Lee also had 2 RBIs in the game.

Three of the wins were over ranked teams, Duke, Stanford and Washington. Liberty was a tourney team last season also and lost to Georgia and Duke in their regional. In 2021, in the Hall of Fame tourney, Liberty played another 1-run game against OU as well.

The Sooner pitching was the strongest part of the effort this weekend. They allowed 5 runs in 5 ball games with 4 being scored by Washington. The Team ERA for the weekend was 1.06 against four quality teams out of the 5 played. The Sooner pitchers allowed a 0.164 batting average against for the weekend. May was superb this weekend with a win and a save in 11.1 innings allowing no runs. Deal was pretty good also with 4.1 innings of scoreless pitching. Storako was good in her 6.2 innings allowing 1 run and 6 base runners during the weekend. Bahl pitched well once and once she had control issues. Most thought the strike zone was a bit tight in the Washington game but Washington only had 2 walks in the game. Bahl’s 10.2 innings included strong pitching especially in the first start.

On offense the Sooner bats were a bit slow during the weekend. They did end up with a .311 batting average as a team through the 5 games with a .391 OB% and a .475 slugging%. Those are not strong numbers for the Sooner offense, but they did score 29 runs to average almost 6 runs per game. By the end of the weekend, they also had more walks/HBP with 16 than strikeout with 13. I think that is a low-key stat to watch for OU this season. Their 6 doubles, 1 triple and 4 HRs for the weekend was also a bit lacking. But I keep telling myself that they play four pretty good pitching staffs during the weekend.

Lee, Lyons and Jennings all hit over .438 for the weekend. All three also had a .500 or higher slugging %. Coleman hit .308 but had a .500 OB%. Boone hit .250 and had a .538 OB% also. Four support players, Sophia Nugent, Green, Erickson and Quincee Lilio all hit over .400 for the weekend.

Twelve players started for Oklahoma during the weekend, with each having at least 2 starts. I think that this will continue during the season as the depth is great on the team and many players deserve the shot at playing.

Every player on the roster except for SJ Geurin (who is redshirting) played this weekend as each had at least one at bat.

Sanders, Brito and Torres did not have strong weekends, but they did drive in 8 (not 10) runs during the weekend with Brito having 6. They did contribute based upon that when the Sooners only scored 29. The three players had more than a third of the RBIs. I do expect that three players will have a better weekend in Waco in their second weekend.

Other Big 12 Teams – Opening Weekend

Baylor (4-1) - During the 1st weekend they won twice over Southern Utah, once over Weber State and UNLV and lost to Arkansas 7-11. Their best win was probably over UNLV. The Bears did show some offense and solid pitching except against Arkansas.

OSU (3-1) – OSU showed strong pitching behind Maxwell and Kilfoyl during the first weekend in Puerto Vallarta. Beyond that OSU may have trouble in the circle. Offensively the Cowgirls did not score a lot, but with their pitching they may not have to. The Cowgirls lost to Maryland was not expected but it was without the duo-pitchers for OSU being in the circle. Maxwell was the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week.

Texas (2-1-1) maybe (2-2) – Texas defeated Missouri and Illinois, but they lost to Northwestern and had the ‘tie’ with Kentucky that I think most softball fans have heard about by now. The Longhorns did score runs in the first weekend but got hit-and-miss pitching from the staff. Morgan (xfer from Arizona State) pitched well for Texas, Czech was up and down with the rest struggling. Texas did make 7 errors in the opening weekend.

Kansas (3-2) – The Jayhawks split two games with Long Beach State, swept two games over North Carolina and lost to Arizona in a lopsided game. Kansas hit 10 HRs during the weekend, with 4 coming from Lyric Moore. But their team ERA was 7.00 for the weekend and made 8 errors. So, the offense could be good, but the pitching/defense may be an issue.

Texas Tech (3-2) – They played two teams. They were 2-1 against Tulsa and 1-1 against UT-Arlington. Tech only gave up 11 runs on the weekend and only made 4 errors with an ERA of 1.35. They used 7 pitchers in the circle with 6 throwing well, including Olivia Rains. They had a decent offense as well. But the competition might not have been that tough.

Iowa State (2-3) – The were playing in the Northern Iowa Dome this weekend. They lost to Omaha once and to Drake twice but defeated Northern Iowa twice. The competition was not that tough, probably. They only scored 5 runs in their first three games and losses. But did score against Northern Iowa in their two wins. The Cyclone pitching and defense was fair the first weekend.

The Big 12 was 22-10-1 during the first weekend and is currently the 4th ranked conference in the projected RPI stats.