BYU outplays Sooners in 3 phases and wins 9-4 - OU loses 3 of 5

[OUBeliever56A]

The BYU Cougars roared loudly last night against the Oklahoma Sooners and won their game over Oklahoma by the score of 9-4. It was a beautiful game if you were a BYU fan (and most other fans that root against OU) and an, well, ugly game for OU fans to watch. I do not like typing that, I do not like reading that. But I am not sure how else to decribe the game.

BYU scored in 6 of the 7 innings of the game and if not for a ball hit by the batter who was out of the batter's box would have scored in the other inning as well. Imagine that if you will. A softball team scored in 6 of 7 innings against the Sooners. The pitching for the Sooners was ineffective last night. The only Sooner pitcher that pitched well was SJ Geurin who pitched to the last batter of the game and got an easy fly ball to RF for an out. The other 3 pitchers for OU had these results:

- Starter - May: 3.0 IP, 3 hits, 2 doubles and 1 HR, 2 walks, 1 K, 1 WP, 1 HB - 3 runs and 3 earned runs1st Reliever - Deal: 1.0 IP, 2 hits, 2 doubles, 1 walk, 1 HB - 2 runs and 2 earned runs
- 2nd Reliever- Keeney: 2.2 IP, 6 hits, 1 double, 5 singles, 2 walks, 1 K - 4 runs and 4 earned runs
- 3rd reliever - Geurin: 0,1 IP fly ball out to RF

BYU's first five hits were extra base hits. They followed that with a "double-steal" executed perfectly against the Sooners. How many times over the years have the Sooners executed a double-steal to perfection on other teams. This is truly the only one that I remember that has been executed against us. The funny think about this one was that it occurred with 2 outs. The throw from Hansen to Hodge was a good one at second base. With two outs, I think you just tag the runner trying to steal second, right? No need to ignore the tag and throw home to prevent the run, simply tag the runner. Watching live in the stadium, I thought that was the play. It did not seem to ever occur to the Sooner defense. After the double-steal, a BYU batter walked and then the next hitter picked up an RBI single, the first non-EBH to make the score 6-4 BYU in the top of the 5th. BYU added their 6th EBH in the 7th inning to make the score 8-4. Another single produced the final score of 9-4 before Geurin got the final out.

There were two scoring decisions that I thought were odd in the game.

1. In the first inning with BYU already ahead 1-0, Brito let a pop foul ball bound out of her glove by 3rd base as the south wind blew the ball back towards the field. Brito was charged with an error on the play. I guess I did not know that a foul ball drop could be charged as an error. I thought I had been taught and been told that a foul ball miscue could not be called an error because it was still a strike and no runner reaches base on the play. I thought a base had to be 'gained' before an error could be judged. I do not know if I learned something or if the scorer made an error him/her self.
2. In the 7th inning, with one out, the BYU batter hit a sharp line drive back to Keeney. After making a nice play to catch the liner, she turned and had a chance to pick up a double play by throwing to 1B for a double play as the BYU runner was off the base. The throw was between Sanders and the runner and was untouched by a glove at 1B as the throw went into RF allowing the runner to score from 2B on the play. I actually just wondered about IF the runner on second base (or first base) actually tagged up before advancing. I have no idea. I was also surprised that the error did not reduce the number of earned run. I know that a WP by a pitcher is an earned run if a runner scores, but did not know a pitcher's error resulted in a earned run. Not sure about this one either.

I do not remember many BYU swinging strikes that missed the ball during the game. I do not remember many called strikes either. From my vantage point down the 1B line, the strike zone seemed elusive most of the night by our pitchers with the 5 walks and 2 HB and many, many counts where the Sooners were behind and trying to catch up with the balls and strikes.

I think the last time the Sooners sent pitchers to the circle and they 'all' gave up runs was back in 2020 when Washington humbled the Sooners out at Mary Nutter by the score of 12-2. I excluded Geurin in the statement because by then, it really did not matter. WOW, I typed that. The next morning at Mary Nutter served up a little more humble pie when Wisconsin added a second loss to the Sooner 4-3 with only 3 hits and not a single ball hit safely to the outfield. The played small-ball and made the Sooners look unprepared for that.

I would be remiss if I did not mention three good plays on defense for the Sooners. The first was a nice ground ball to 3rd where Brito fielded the ball and threw a strike to Hansen to make a perfect tag on the runner trying to advance to home plate. The second was a nice play by Pickering in RF as she dove to make a catch on a short ball in RF. The third play was a bunt in front of the plate where Hansen made the play and threw to 2B to get the force. The throw was short hop short of the bag but Torres made a nice catch on the ball to complete the force play.

On offense, the Sooners never seemed to be there in the batter's box ready to hit. It is hard to believe that the Sooners picked up 10 walks, and 8 hits (1 EBH which was a 2-run HR by Jennings) and only scored 4 runs as they left 10 runners on base and had 3 more runners out on the bases on plays.

1- The first runner that was out on the bases was Parker in the first inning. The Sooners had 2 outs with runners on 1st and 3rd with Hansen at the plate. I think, it was not a straight steal as Parker was watching the throw all the way. I think it was an attempt to pull off the double-steal with Jennings on 3rd. Parker saw the throw to 2B but seemed to stop to late to reverse her path so that Jennings could score before a tag that was going to happen for the 3rd out. Jennings seemed to be late moving towards home plate also. The BYU SS (who was also 4 for 5 with 2 doubles) ran down Parker quickly to make the tag for the 3rd out before Jennings was close to home plate.
2- The second runner out on the bases was in the 5th. OU had runners on 1st and 2nd base with no outs. The score was 6-4 in favor of BYU. The pitch was a bit low in the dirt and bounced a bit away from the catcher. Coor, on a late break from second, was thrown out trying to advance to 3B by the catcher fairly easy.
3 - On the next pitch or the second pitch, after Coor was thrown out at 3B, Sanders hit a line drive right at the BYU SS. Torres literally took one extra hop beyond her 'lead-off steps" towards 2B as the ball left Sanders' bat and was not able to get back to the bag before the SS's throw beat her back to first base for a double play.

In a weird stat for OU, Oklahoma's first batter of each inning reached base in the game. They lead of 5 innings with singles and 2 other with a walk. Only two of them scored.

Hansen and Boone had 5 of the 8 hits in the game for OU, Jennings added her 2-run HR, Sanders had a single by third base and Torres had a single to short RC. That was it. Brito walked 3 times, Parker and Pickering walked twice. The other two RBIs for OU outside of the Jennings HR were a seeing-eye single by Hansen that did not go foul somehow with the base loaded as all the runners moved up a base. That infield hit was followed by a bases loaded walk to Pickering for a run.

In the last 7 days, the Sooners have lost 3 of 5 games now to go from 35-1 to 37-4. In that time frame, three of the games have involved pitchers for Wichita State and BYU who have had ERAs of at least 4.91 for the season. In those 19 innings of play, OU has scored 19 runs, that is probably not enough even though they won 2 of the three games.

I do not know what to expect today at 1 PM against BYU. The offense seems stagnant as the hitters work the count each at bat and seem lost at times on the bases or just do not execute as the offense should. The pitching seems to be good but I m not sure how much depth the Sooners have in the circle. I am not sure about the depth of the bench. I am not sure about the Sooners execution on things like double-steals, forcing the defense to make plays, finishing off hitters with a strikeout, making the plays that do make a difference. I think the Sooners can send Maxwell to the circle and probably pick up a win. Or, the Sooners can decide to take the harder path and send someone else to the circle to work on depth in the circle and maybe use the non-starting players in a different way today to try to improve their play as well. As the team says, have fun and just go hit the ball at times instead of looking and looking and looking at pitches.

It has been a long time since the Sooners have played the way they have played the last week at this time of the year. I looked back at past seasons. The Sooners are 14-3 in the Big 12 currently. If you go back from the 2023 season to the 2017 season, the Sooners were 94-3 over that time. You have to go back to 2012 to find a season in which the Sooners lost 3 Big 12 games when they were 19-5. By the way, the Sooners lost to Alabama that year in the WCWS Finals.

I do not believe that this team is done. I do believe there is a pathway back to being the Oklahoma Sooners we are used to seeing play. But that play will not be reached by one good game today. It will take a seires of weekends to reach that. This team will make or break itself today, Tuesday at OKC against Tulsa, next weekend against Houston at home, the week after that at UCF and in the final week against OSU at home. 11 games to right themselves and prepare themselves for the Big 12 Tourney and beyond. It is still possible to be a very good team. It is still possible.

Boomer Sooner!

[TropicalSooner]

thanks for your detailed recap and post game analysis.

[OUBeliever56A]

thanks for your detailed recap and post game analysis.

I forgot to mention the failure to cover second base in the 1st inning on a potential double play. May snagged the one hopper hit back to her and turned ready to to start a double play attempt by throwing to second base. But neither Jennings or Hodge were there or really moving to second base. May double pumped and finally threw to Jennings for the out. I believe Hodge should have the bag with a right handed batter at the plate, but that is a guess.

[1KCSoonerFan]

Thank you for the write-up, '56!

This game felt so much like Lousiana Reduex to me. Very similar vibe and results.

Saying, "It is still possible to be a very good team," speaks to me about a couple of things:
* It is hard to imagine such a statement being made about OU this year....that OU would find itself in this situation to elicit such a comment.
* "Possible" is about having hope for an outcome that is appearing more uncertain in light of the past couple weeks.

One thing I caught myself thinking is that a few teams have appeared to confuse the Sooners with a steady diet of off-speed pitches, and a merry-go-round of timeouts, challenges, and other delays. OU must find a way to overcome this and make the other team/coach pay for this tactic. Otherwise, all any team has to do to put OU off its game is to follow this script.

If all the change-ups and delays aren't the source of our rather dull performance, there is something else going on - and that something else could very well be fatigue and a brutal schedule this week (that feels like to ready of an excuse right now). Whatever it is, if the Sooners want to win, things need some fixing before the playoffs.

Patty's words in the previous game's post-game interview proved very prescient: "They are going to get us if we don't make some changes" (paraphrased). And she said this after a run-rule victory! She was and is seeing something that concerns her.

My comments are not intended to be any kind of sky-falling, hand-wringing exercise. As mentioned, it is very unusual to lose this many games in close proximity - and change typically elicits a variety of emotions for everyone: Anger, fear, uncertainty, and/or hope for things to change back to the status quo.

I'm hoping in what is possible right now, too.

[TN Sooner]

Perspective.

[OUBeliever56A]

I understand your post, but how many of those teams also lost two games last weekend?

We are Oklahoma and that does mean this is very unusual. Right?

[EMan]

I agree, 1KC with your comment about the off-speed stuff. Most of the team just doesn't appear to have that timing down at all right now. A lot of fouls, weak bloops or grounders off the bat. Not a whole lot of power at the moment. And when someone does seem to finally square one up, it's hit right at someone. Like 56 said, the Sooners had players crawling all over the bases last night, but no one could seem to get that big hit. Certainly no gap shots to the wall to drive someone home.

In the previous 4 games, it was all about the hitting. The pitching was just fine. Only giving up 6 total runs in 4 road games is very good. But last night was beyond frustrating to watch. No 3-up, 3-down innings the entire game. That's not acceptable. And every time the Sooners managed to tie it up, the staff immediately gave back the lead. You HAVE to have a shut-down inning when your offense battles back to knot the game up. That was disappointing.

Now I will say this. I also find it hard to believe that what we're currently seeing is the Sooner team we'll see the rest of the year. There are too many proven players on the offensive side for this to continue. Anyone that's played/watched enough baseball/softball has seen streaks/slumps come and go. If someone knew why or how they happen, they could write their own ticket to the HOF. Streaks like this have baffled coaches and players since the game was invented. No one understands how one day it can look like a beachball coming to the plate, and the next it's like trying to hit a BB. This feels like one of those times when the "slump bug" has infected the majority of the team at the same time. Fortunately, sometimes all it takes is one clutch hit to open the flood gates and it's Katie bar the door again. But who knows? Again, if I could figure that out I'd be in great demand! One thing does appear certain though, for the first time in a while, OU will not be a prohibitive favorite heading into the playoffs. They'll probably still be the team to beat, but there will probably be a lot more seat-squirming going on this year.

What I hope to see going forward is this senior class step up and lead the way again. Start seeing those clutch hits with runners on base and get the merry-go-round in gear. Offense would appear to be the strength of this team and the O needs to help take the pressure off the staff but scoring early and often. We'll see how they respond today, but we said the same thing after the Texas series. However, with slumps, sometimes it takes a while to work things out. Unfortunately, we're coming down the stretch and it's time to start playing their best ball, not struggling to win a game.

[oufanforever]

One thing Patty said in the pregame yesterday was: data is showing BYU's pitcher throws a change up first pitch 70%, yet all of our batters still is looking for a hard pitch to hit and just refuse to swing at something they know is likely coming. That to me is a mentality problem. Trying to hit the HR ball on a hard pitch instead of just hit for a soft single up the middle on a change up.

[TN Sooner]

I understand your post, but how many of those teams also lost two games last weekend?

We are Oklahoma and that does mean this is very unusual. Right?

I agree it is unusual for oklahoma.

But it is also shaping up to be a year of no superteams. While I don’t think any of the top 10 lost 2 games last weekend, but several (most?) lost at least 1 and then lost another this weekend. So we are in line with the rest of the world and in better position to regain a foothold to be a super team in the next month.

I spent most of my life as a skeptic - and even was a paid skeptic for 15 years as a financial auditor. When I retired, I have strived to be less skeptical.

So am I using rose colored glasses? Possible. Probably….