Sooner SB: Maxwell, Brito lead the 7-3 Win & Series Win over BYU

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Softball Team rebounded pretty well with a 7-3 win over BYU on Saturday during a nice sunny day at Love's Field. The win also gave the Sooners another series win in the Big 12 to start a new streak in the Big 12. The team was led by Maxwell in the circle and by Brito, batting 7th, in the batter's box.

Kelly Maxwell pitched another CG for the Sooners (her 7th) and gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, and 6 Ks and 3 runs. Her outing would have looked a lot better if the final inning did not happen as she gave up 2 runs, 3 hits and a HR in that final inning but she did strikeout the side in the final inning. I wonder why OU had to use Maxwell in that final or final two innings on Saturday. The Sooners were up 7-1 after 5 innings. But Maxwell pitched the final two and was pretty good doing so. Maxwell had 3 innings where she retired the Cougars in order. One inning with a walk only. One inning with a solo HR only (2nd). In the 6th and 7th innings 3 batters reached base. Maxwell is now 13-1 and throwing well with a 1.72 ERA.

Alyssa Brito rebounded on Saturday. On Thursday, Brito was 1 for 3, On Friday, she was 0 for 1 with 3 walks. On Saturday, she was 3 for 4 with 4 RBIs and a HR while batting 7th in the lineup. Oklahoma needed those 4 RBIs. Alynah Torres also added two hits and an RBI for the Sooners. Ella Parker had the final RBI for the Sooners on a 1 for 3 day with 1 HBP. Jennings was 1 for 2 with a double and 2 walks. Hansen was 1 for4 with a hustling double. Rylie Boone was 1 for 3 with a walk. Hodge was 1 for 1. Cydney Sanders had 3 walks while going 0 for 1. Jayda Coleman was 0 for 2 with one walk.

[Edit: added} - Oklahoma did commit one error on Saturday on a throw wide of the bag at 1B by Brito in the 6th inning. But she did have 3 POs and 4 assists in the game. Cydney Sanders helped Brito out on one throw with a nice jump catch and move to get her foot back to the bag before the runner reached base. [Edit]

OU was 10 for 27 in the game with 7 walks and 0 strikeouts and 1 HBP. Jayda Coleman picked up a sacrifice to move Boone to 2nd Base in the 4th inning. But once again OU left 11 runners on base for the second game in a row in double digits. The high number of walks affect the number of runners left on base. But on Saturday, the Sooners put the ball in play six times with runners on base to plate the 7 runs. On Friday, there were only 3 hits with runners on base.

Oklahoma is now 38-4 for the season and 15-3 in Big 12 play. The Team Stats are still strong, even really good. Here they are:

Offense: 0.379 BA, 0.483 OB%, 0.692 Slug%, 8.45 R/G, 74 doubles, 3 triples and 85 HRs (I think all of those are likely to be Top 3-ish when this weekend is over.)
Pitching: 1.65 ERA, 10 CGs, 18 shutouts, 0.185 BA Against, 0.271 OB% Against and 0.287 Slug% Against. 1.59 Runs Allowed per Game.
Defense: 16 errors for a Fielding % of .985.

No team in the country has less than 4 losses. Duke and Boston U also have 4 losses but they have 36 and 34 wins compared to OU's 38. OU continues to have the best W/L % in the country. Oklahoma is solidly in 2nd in the RPI ratings.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Saturday win over BYU.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/4/13 ... series-win

Next up for Oklahoma is Tulsa in OKC at the Hall of Fame Stadium at 6 PM. Tulsa is 26-14 and has one game left vs East Carolina today in Tulsa. They have split the first two games. Tulsa has won 2 of 3 games against Wichita State this season and has split two games with OSU also. Tulsa is a solid ball club this season with two effective pitchers in Maura Moore and Kylee Nash.

The Sooners took their first step well against BYU on Saturday with their 7-3 win after their loss on Friday. The game on Tuesday is the second step for them to take. Good luck to the Sooners on Tuesday.

Boomer Sooner!

[EMan]

This game was an improvement over Friday (it had to be!) but it still wasn't the crisp solid game we've come to expect out of this group of players. While there were a few clutch hits here and there, there were several missed opportunities to completely blow the game open and make it a run rule. Hopefully, they're trending back toward their full potential and peaking at the right time, but they're still a work in progress at this point. Fortunately, there's still plenty of time to get this train back on track.