Sooner Softball Big 12 Opener: Iowa State comes to Town for 3 !

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners Softball Team (Ranked #1/#2) host the Iowa State Cyclones for a Friday, Saturday, Sunday 3-game series this weekend at Love's Field. The games are currently scheduled to start at 6 PM on Friday, 2 PM on Saturday and 1 PM on Sunday. All three games are on ESPN+ and all three games will have a radio broadcast anchored by Chris Plank. There will be links to both of those on the Sooner Sports Softball Schedule Page. ( https://soonersports.com/sports/softbal ... h=softball )

Oklahoma is 19-1 on the season while Iowa State is 9-10. The current team stats for the two teams are below:

• Sooners: Record = 19-1 - Offense: .385 BA, .468 OB%, .668 Slug%, 8.2 Runs/G, 35 doubles, 2 triples, 34 HRs - Pitching: 1.38 ERA - Defense: - .986 Field%, 7 errors

• Iowa State: Record: = 9-10 - Offense: .306 BA, .403 OB%, .504 Slug%, 5.8 Runs/G, 36 doubles, 1 triple, 23 HRs - Pitching: 5.26 ERA - Defense: .958 Field%, 22 errors

Iowa State is led by Angelina Allen (LF) with a fine .543 BA with 8 doubles and 8 HRs for a 1.00 Slug%. Olivia Wardlow (2B/DH) is hitting .373 as a singles hitter. Milaysia Ochoa (CF) may be the best hitter for I-State with a .365 BA, .494 OB% and a .587 Slug%. In the circle, the Cyclones are having some issues. Only one pitcher has an ERA under 4.30. Saya Swain, the tough RH'er, has a 2.07 ERA in 23.2 innings and is 4-1. The four other primary pitchers, Charles, Schurman, Rodriguez (LHP) and Ralston have about a 5.25 ERA combined. The Cyclones also have committed 22 errors for 18 unearned runs in their 19 games.

If Oklahoma is carrying their bats and ready to hit, the Sooner offense should generate very good offensive stats this weekend against Iowa State and score a bunch of runs. Historically, Swain has done fairly well against OU for a couple innings, but then OU finds the pitches and hits her convincingly. In the circle, the Sooners will have to pay attention to details when facing the three hitters listed above for Iowa State plus a couple more hitters like Minor (3B) and Ranches (SS). But overall, the Sooners should control the game in the circle during the three games.

I think that Maxwell will start Game 1, May will start Game 2 and Deal will start Game 3. But I would not call that an educated guess at all. I t very well could be May starring in Game 1, Deal in Game 2 and Maxwell in Game 3 with Maxwell ready for relief late in games one and two.

I think we will continue to see the usual players starting at 8 positions. Hansen - C, Sanders - 1B, Jennings - SS, Brito - 3B, Coleman - CF, Boone - RF/LF, Pickering - LF/RF and Parker at DP. Maybe Ludlam gets a start at DP or 1B during the weekend also. At 2B, we will continue to see either Torres or Hodge start there.

I do not have an idea about the batting order. I will wait like you to see the lineup for each game.

Oklahoma will need to play good defense and pitch well to keep these three games under firm control for the Sooners. The bats will be the insurance for the Sooners as they should score often and put many crooked numbers up on the board.

I would keep my ear to the ground about a game time change on Friday as well. The Sooner baseball game has been moved from 6 PM to Noon on Friday. The weather is supposed to be cold Friday night, as in the 30's and the rain might be around during the day on Friday. The Friday game could be shifted to Saturday. Just be aware and check the social media pages for OU Softball often tonight and tomorrow morning.

Good luck to the Sooners this weekend.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

OU VS. IOWA STATE SERIES CHANGES

Due to impending weather in Norman this weekend, the Oklahoma softball team has rescheduled its Big 12 opener against Iowa State to a split doubleheader on Saturday, March 9.

The Iowa State series opener originally scheduled for Friday night has been moved to Saturday at 5 p.m. The game initially scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. will remain at the same time, as will Sunday's 1 p.m. finale.

To fairly and effectively accommodate all ticket holders for Friday and Saturday, we will be clearing the stadium between Saturday’s two games. If you plan on attending both the 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. games on Saturday, please be aware that you will need to exit the stadium at the conclusion of the 2 p.m. contest. To re-enter for the 5 p.m. game, you will need to access your Oklahoma Tickets account and re-download your tickets for Saturday's 5 p.m. game. We recommend downloading your tickets for both games before arriving to the stadium on Saturday.

For additional information, please contact the Oklahoma Athletics Ticket Office at 405-325-2424 or by email at outickets@ou.edu.

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Iowa State series.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/3/7/ ... r-saturday

The three-game series can be seen via SoonerVision on ESPN+ and heard on 1560 AM/103.3 FM The Franchise 2. Saturday's 5 p.m. game can also be heard on 107.7 FM The Franchise.

The Sooners and Cyclones will now play a split doubleheader on Saturday, March 9, and a single game on Sunday, March 10.

Tickets for the original Friday contest (March 8) will be accepted for entry to the rescheduled 5 p.m. game on Saturday. Fans will not be able to scan their tickets for entry until the stadium has been completely cleared following the conclusion of the 2 p.m. contest. All fans, including those with tickets to both games on Saturday, must exit the stadium following the conclusion of the 2 p.m. game.

[TropicalSooner]

My observation about the pitching assignments:
I went back and looked at how Coach has started the pitching rotations so far this season and here is what I found:

At Puerta Vallarta, May got the first start, followed by Maxwell with the second start and then May with the third against the Huskies, and Deal got the fourth and final start.

At Lake Charles, May got the first start followed by Maxwell with the second, Deal with the third, and we started rotating different starters.

At Mary Nutter, May got the first start followed by Maxwell and Deal again, and then on to different starters to finish the tournament.

At home in Love's Field last weekend, May got the first start, again followed by Maxwell and Deal in the second and third games and then on to different starters finishing our own tournament.

My point is that if Coach is anywhere close to being consistent with anything so far this year, it seems to be the starting pitchers at the beginning of each tournament, with the one exception of Washington opening weekend. That leads me to believe the rotation for Iowa State will maintain that continuity, and to me anyway, May would get the first start, followed by Maxwell, and then Deal on Sunday. I actually kind of like this weekend rotation, and then using Keeney or Monti to do the middle of the week starts. We know May and Maxwell are good starters most every time and this will give Deal a solid 3rd starter slot to perfect her game this season before she leads us into the SEC next year.

One other thing about Keeney, at first I was puzzled by Keeney being left in the game when we had two other pitchers in SJ and Monti that could come in and probably shut things down and 'save' the win for us. But after thinking about it, I now feel like Gasso and Rocha left Keeney in there on purpose--to see how much gas she had in her tank so to speak. Can she work out of jams. Can she come in midway through the game go to the end and preserve the win. Well, we may never know about that--it's not like she lost the game herself, her defense let her down, and she didn't help herself any by not getting the runner out on the ground ball hit back to her. I think Gasso was trying to find out what she could do against a strong opponent. And we sort of found out, I guess.

To me, it appears like May, Max, and Deal are our weekend starters now, with Keeney chewing up innings mid-way and SJ and Monti and Maxwell being used as closers. That's my dart throw anyway.

Whatever happens, I hope our offense finds its way back and we've worked out the fielding bugs on defense. I'm eager to see how we do against the Iowa St Cyclones.

Boomer!

[OUBeliever56A]

With the rescheduling of the games for the Iowa State series, I wondered if the DH now on Saturday could cause a change in pitching plans for either. I had strongly thought that Sara Swain would likely start on Friday and Sunday for Iowa State. But with the DHer that might change. I looked at Swain's stats and now see that she has not pitched since Feb 18th. Sain has not pitched the last two weekends. That is a big deal for Iowa State, and for OU as well. If Swain is able to pitch this weekend, i would doubt that they extend her innings by pitching in multiple games or extended innings.

Now I think this is how the pitching plans might go for both teams.

I think Karlie Charles (4.30 ERA) will pitch the first game on Saturday in the 2 PM game. I think that if she is healthy, Sara Swain (2.07 ERA) will start game 2, now at 5 PM on Saturday, as Iowa State could be trying to save some innings on the three remaining pitchers, Schurman (5.25 ERA), Rodriguez (LHP - 5.76 ERA) and Ralston (6.22 ERA). It is likely that at least one of those three will pitch in game 1 to relieve Charles, maybe two of them. Then again, one or two will probably follow Swain tot he circle in game 2. One of those three will probably start game 3 on Sunday as well with Charles available for relief work on Sunday. if Swain can not pitch this weekend, the rotation is 'any of the above' after Charles starts game 1.

For the Sooners, I think now that one of Maxwell will start game 1. Deal will start game 2. May will start game 3. the reasons for that are simple. I think Maxwell is probably more likely to pitch deep into game 1 against Iowa State since both Ochoa and Allen are strong left-handed hitters. That is also why I think Deal starts game 2. May will follow on Sunday as she is the #2 pitcher at this point in mind. Game 2 with Deal starting is an important game for her as she needs to see significant Big 12 action early in conference play. Game 2 could be a game where 2 or 3 pitchers might be used to close out the DHer if needed. I think Keeney will be the first option out of the bullpen and she might pitch in two games this weekend. Monticelli and Geurin will be used as desired and needed this weekend. I think that both of Keeney and Monticelli are good relievers to follow Deal if needed due to the contrast in pitching styles.

I think the Sooners will try to give Hansen a rest in one or two of the games on Saturday. Due to that, I do not think Ludlam is in the starting lineup in either game so she can readily come into the game on demand when the opportunity is there to rest Hansen. That leaves Sanders, Parker and maybe Lilio to fill the 1B/DH role n Saturday. It seems that Pickering has won the 3rd outfielders job at this point and will start along side of Coleman and Boone in the outfield this weekend. Torres and Hodge will continue to tag-team the second base position as well. Bland is the go-to pinch runner with Coor the go-to defensive replacement for an outfielder when needed.

Here is the batting order I would like to see this weekend:
Boone RF/LF
Brito 3B
Jennings SS
Parker DP/1B
Hansen C
Pickering LF/RF
Coleman CF
Sanders 1B/DP
Torres / Hodge 2B

I could even see Coleman in the 9th spot in the lineup with Sanders and the 2B duo in the 8th and 9th spot.

Good luck to the Sooners this weekend.

Boomer Sooner!

[TropicalSooner]

Wow. Really well thought out and displayed '56.

I have no clue as to the batting order Coach comes up with. The one you have listed is probably pretty close to what we will see though.

All I can do is throw out what I think our defensive alignment will be and here is where I think the defense lines up when the hit the field:
**This is not a batting order**

1B Sanders
2B Torres
SS Jennings
3B Brito
LF Pickering
CF Coleman
RF Boone
C Hansen
DH Parker

That was an interesting observation you made about the Cyclones pitcher, not seeing Saya Swain pitch for the last few weeks. On another site, there's an Iowa St fan that posts fairly regularly, so I put the question to him if she was injured or something. He has not responded, but a different poster did and said he thought she was nursing a back issue of some kind. I don't know if that is for real or if this is just smoke before our series and she comes out on fire. But if she is nursing a back issue, going out in the circle in 40 degree and breezy weather will not be helpful for her. That was a good catch you made noticing her inactivity.

I hope we can score early and often. I really would like to see Hodge get off the bench. If we get through today's DH in good shape, maybe we will see her start on Sunday?

Defensively, I do like Sanders the best at 1B, but I think we've got to get Ludlum's bat in the lineup somewhere, somehow. That will be interesting to follow as well.