Day #3 @ Love's Field: Louisiana 7 Sooners 5: "We are Human"

[OUBeliever56A]

First thing to say is this. Congratulations to Louisiana. They won the game on Sunday by playing better than the Sooners played. Chloe Riassetto pitched herself into Rajin' Cajun softball lore as she allowed 5 runs, 4 earned, to the Sooners in 8.0 innings and 136 pitches. A two-RBI single by Sam Roe (a transfer from Florida to Louisiana) in the top of the 8th capped off a three run inning by Louisiana that OU could not rally back from to tie in the bottom of the inning.

That thing called the "streak" is over and it was 71 games in duration which is equal to my freshman year in high school 1971, put into years. The last time that I personally saw the Sooners drop a game was at Austin in 2022 against Dolcini (another complete game against the Sooners) and Texas. Before that it was the loss at Marita Hynes in 2020 against North Texas. (Yes, I do not go to the World Series, it is a superstitious thing for me.) I saw all four losses for the Sooners in 2020. I did not see a loss in 2021. I did not see a loss in 2023.

On the very bright side of the ledger, there have only been 13 losses in the 2020's decade of five years. There have been 204 wins in those five years (94% wins).

The game yesterday was, well, just not typically like a Sooner game usually is IMO. All three days have been that way for me. I will admit that I miss the sitting outside the gates at Marita Hynes for the gates to open with the group of Sooner fans that were always there. Driving up to park at LNC and just walking into Love's Field about an hour before the game starts feels a bit like a spectator rather than a being a fan, maybe a fanatic fan I must say. There stadium is big, the normal shouts of "Boomer Sooner!" come from a distance now, not from just over there, from the normal voices that have led the cheers for years.

About the game itself. The solo HR that Louisiana hit in the 2nd, with two outs was by Campbell, a player that hit an earlier HR against Maxwell when she was wearing OSU orange in a previous year. (That is not meant in any way as bad or anything meaningful, but just a historical reference.) The 2 runs that Louisiana scored in the 4th was not a typical inning at all. The leadoff hitter singled. The next hitter hit a little popup out in front of the plate on the LF line, Maxwell was the Sooner that got to the ball to catch the first out. During a four pitch walk to the next hitter there was a delayed steal of second base which resulted in a bad throw to 2B that Coleman fielded in CF and then threw a strike to Brito at 3B to get the runner trying to advance to 3B. Now there was two outs in the inning with a runner on first base after the walk was completed. Then there was a single down the LF line that Pickering played well off the protruding wall but the runner from first still advanced to 3B on. Then on a first pitch, there was another single on a line drive to the left of Jennings for a RBI with runners left on 1st and 2nd. The Sooners made a pitching change at that point with Keeney replacing Maxwell. Keeney walked the first batter to load the bases on a 3-2 count. Then the next hitter, the leadoff hitter Davis, worked the count to another 3-2 count before walking in a run. The third out was recorded on a hard hit ball back to Keeney that she secured and threw to 1B to end the inning. Louisiana picked up 3 singles and 3 walks in the inning to score the two runs. Without that throw from Coleman to Brito, it could have been worse.

In the 7th with one out, Davis was at bat again. OU was lined up in the 'shift" with Coleman at 2B with Pickering and Boone in the outfield in LC and RC. Davis, a slapper, hit a little flare over by the LF line that Pickering made a nice play on as she ran, dove and initially had the ball in her glove but as she made contact with the ground, the ball came out as Davis coasted into second for a double. On a ball that could have been an out, the next batter reached first base as Jennings just did not secure the grounded hit almost right at her for an error. That was followed by a steal of third and second that it seemed that OU just reacted late to make a play. The next hitter hit a crisp ground ball to Brito at 3B with Davis moving home on the crack of the bat. Brito fielded the ball and threw a crisp throw to Hansen standing in fair territory. Hansen caught the ball and then as every catcher is taught, attempted to grab the ball in her glove with her bare hand as she went to make the tag on Davis. As she made the move to tag Davis, the ball was dropped and Davis scored. with the runner and batter ending up on 3rd and 2nd after the play. At least that is what I think happened as I sit down the RF line and Hansen's back was to me as the play was made. Then next hitter did the same thing, hit a grounder to Brito, this time the ball did not come out of Hansen's glove and the second out was made with runners moving to 3rd and 1st this time. The final out was made on a popup to SS. That made the score 4-2 with a critical unearned run scoring.

In the top of the 8th, The leadoff hitter singled down the LF line. On the first pitch to the next hitter, Brito tried to make a play to her left moving a couple steps As she fielded the ball and reached for it with her throwing hand the ball just never got to the pocket of her glove as it dinked off the end of her glove and she could not find the ball for the throw for an error. With a good play, the play would have been a force out at 2B and maybe even a double play was possible. The next hitter hit a little topper to the right of the pitching circle. Keeney moved to the ball and then just did not secure the ball in her glove as she reached down to field the ball as she was going to throw the ball to 3rd for an out. It was ruled a hit, but maybe should have been an error. With the bases loaded, The next hitter hit the ball to the right of Jennings that she was just not able to reach as it ticked off the end of her glove. She reacted well to get to the ball a few feet away and tried to make a play at 3B but the runner was safe. It was ruled an RBI single. The run would have scored anyway but the only play Jennings had was at 3B. The bases were still loaded with one run in with three defensive plays "not made". Keeney got one of her two strikeouts in her relief effort against Davis (with no shift alignment) for the 1st out of the inning. The next hitter hit another ground ball to SS where Jennings made the play and threw to Hansen who caught the ball for the force out at home with a good stretch for the second out of the inning. That set up the Roe single through the left side that scored two runs to make the score 7-4. The final out was made on a ground ball to SS on a 6-3 play. All three runs were unearned that scored in the 8th.

OU scored two runs in the bottom of the 4th on a Ludlam single and a Hansen two-run HR to make the score 3-2 in favor of Louisiana.

In the bottom of the 7th, trailing 4-2, the first batter, Hodge, who entered the game as a defensive replacement at 2B in the 6th, was first up to bat. She walked to open the inning. On a 3-2 count, Coleman popped out behind SS for the first out of the inning. Brito then hit a deep enough fly ball to RF that allowed Hodge alertly to move to 2B on the play. Jennings then singled to RC to plate Hodge. Ludlam then re-entered the game to hit. Ludlam as Maya Bland pinch-ran for Jennings at first base. On the first pitch, Ludlam was jammed a bit but the ball was hit in the air out behind the second base player, Langeliers. she was running out to RF with her back to the plate, with the RF running in to make the play. Langeliers reached the ball and had int in her glove for a moment, but it fell out of her glove as Bland was moving to 3B. Langeliers picked up the ball and threw the ball just short to the Louisiana catcher. The throw skipped and bounced under Valdez's glove to the backstop. Bland sprinted home for the tying run as Ludlam moved to second base. With the winning run on second base, Hansen, the clutch hitter so many times, was jammed and hit a little popup towards the netting on the right side almost to the Louisiana bench. Valdez made a simply tremendous play as she quickly ran and leaped into the net, the padded wall and somehow caught the ball for the third out on a simply tremendous play. The umpires reviewed the play to make sure the ball never hit the netting and it was properly ruled a good catch. Valdez was injured on the play with a leg injury unfortunately. Her pinch-hitter, Loecker, had the leadoff single to start the top of the 8th leading to the 3 runs by Louisiana.

In the bottom of the 8th, Boone flew out to LF for the first out. OU and Sanders showed some life as Sanders hit a solo HR to LC to make it a two-run game. Pickering then hit a fairly deep ball to CF for out #2. Torres, re-entering the game for Hodge, hit a single to RF that looked a bit like the Lee single against Clemson with two outs before the Hansen HR. Coleman worked the count to a 2-1 count before grounding out to second base for the final out of the game.

There were two base running mistakes on the bases for Oklahoma in the game. In the bottom of the 3rd, with Jennings on second and Boone on first with two outs, the Louisiana coach, Glasco, asked for a review on a pitch to see if Coleman left the bag too early (before the pitcher released the pitch). After a review, he was right and Coleman was called out on the play for the 3rd out of the inning. In the bottom of the 6th, after a walk to Hansen and a bunt single by Boone with no outs, Hansen was caught off base at second base by an alert Valdez and Hansen was tagged out at 3B with Boone moving to 2B during the rundown. Hansen just took one too many steps trying to get a good lead to be able to score.

There were two other big plays in the game.

One was a ground ball down the 3rd base line in the 4th inning that plated a run (I think that is when it was.) The hit was reviewed and it was ruled fair. Many fans in the stadium sitting on the LF line thought the ball was foul. I have not watched the replay.

The other was the play with Parker and the contact at 1B on a ground ball to 3B. At the time, on the contact, I noticed that Parker did not touch the bag with her foot as she stepped to the bag. From what I read, the explanation after the long review by the umpires was just that Parker was out. No explanation of if it was interference or what. Parker was just out. [Edit: I guess my comment is not right. Coach Gasso did say in the post-game that the umpires said due to interference by Parker.] I do think that Parker was 'legally' running to touch the bag. It was her right foot reaching for the bag, so her body was at least straddling the foul line. But as contact was made, her foot missed the bag by about an inch maybe. The throw was high from third and the first baseman did leap up and loose contact with the bag as the play happened. But the first baseman did come back down on the bag as she fell to the ground. I did think Parker was out.

To close, the Sooners did not play well on Sunday. Louisiana played well enough to win behind a CG win by Riassetto. Keeney took the loss for OU.

In a but of irony, as I was walking to my seat and noticed that Liberty defeated Louisiana 7-1 in the game previous to the OU-Louisiana game, I commented to my wife that I was surprised that Louisiana was having trouble scoring runs this weekend. Immediately, I heard a "so do we!" I looked to my right to see a Louisiana fan smiling at me. I think it was a parent of Langeliers, the second base player for Louisiana. Should I say "oops" on that comment? I did say before the season, that if OU got by the Duke and Washington games in Puerto Vallarta, that the next big games would be the Liberty/Louisiana games in Love' Field. I really thought Louisiana would be very good this year. At 10-12, that remains to be seen, but they were good enough on Sunday, and they scored some runs, albeit they were helped with 3 unearned runs by OU.

Are there some questions or things I wonder about, yes, there are. But I will not go into those now. The world is not going to end nor is the OU softball program or the season go down the drain. That I am very sure of. It is just one game and the Sooners are 18-1 on the season. They may not, probably will not be the #1 team in the polls as LSU is still undefeated at 19-0. Again, that is okay, the polls mean, well not much actually. The Sooners are human, going back to the title. They will re-group, review and get ready for Wednesday nights game against Texas A&M-Commerce at 6 PM. I will be there and cheering loudly every chance I get.

Boomer Sooner!

[EMan]

To be honest, I thought the come-backer to Keeney in the 8th should've been ruled an error. It wasn't really that tough of a play, but I don't suppose it matters. The results of the play were the same regardless. On the hit in the 4th down the 3rd base line that was ruled fair, it looked foul, but there really wasn't a good angle on the play to review it so I knew it would stand. The ball initially hit the line about 4 to 5 feet before the bag (you could see the chalk dust fly why it hit) and then landed several feet foul after passing the bag. IMO, there's no way it landed that far foul and still crossed the bag, but again, no clear angle to review it so I knew it would stand.

But to be fair, I also thought OU got a huge break in the 7th to tie it when Langeliers didn't catch Ludlam's little flair to right. It would've definitely been a tough catch, but the ball did hit in her glove but just popped out. And then the throw got by the catcher allowing the tying run to score. Big break there.

Overall, IMO it was a very poorly played game by the Sooners, and just not something we ever see out of them. An occasional mental mistake or error, sure, but it just seemed to be one bad play after another all game. Hopefully they got them all out of their system yesterday and it will be a game we'll look back at and say, "What the heck happened that day?!?"

[TALSOONER]

I was not at the game.
I listen to Plank and watch the ESPN live.
And overall, IMO, it would have been a very different game if the ump had called the low right pitches strikes. When the pitches have to be completely over the plate rather than just touch the edge, batters are more likely to get on base......

If you were at the game, and had a good view of the plate, were they strikes or balls ?

[OUBeliever56A]

I was not at the game.
I listen to Plank and watch the ESPN live.
And overall, IMO, it would have been a very different game if the ump had called the low right pitches strikes. When the pitches have to be completely over the plate rather than just touch the edge, batters are more likely to get on base......

If you were at the game, and had a good view of the plate, were they strikes or balls ?

I have a terrible view of the plate as I sit down the 1B line. But I can see the height of the pitch. The vertical distance of the pitches to be called strikes was about 18 inches from what I could see. And even at that, the low strike was called inconsistently IMO. I am 5'10" on a good day. So for most of the hitters the strike zone was 'short' vertically.

[oufanforever]

I was not at the game.
I listen to Plank and watch the ESPN live.
And overall, IMO, it would have been a very different game if the ump had called the low right pitches strikes. When the pitches have to be completely over the plate rather than just touch the edge, batters are more likely to get on base......

If you were at the game, and had a good view of the plate, were they strikes or balls ?

On TV whose pitches were not close to being strikes, both low and outside

[EMan]

One more thought. IMO PG was using this game (and the entire pre-conference schedule for that matter) to experiment and find out what she has. She really had zero concern about getting a loss before the conference schedule. Who truly believes Jayda will bat 9th this year? I think she’s trying different combos just to see how players respond. But all that aside, who would’ve ever thought the Sooners would have some of the miscues they had yesterday? Let’s be honest, the Sooners escaped a loss by the skin of their teeth a few times in the streak (think Clemson) so to finally drop one shouldn’t be surprising.