OU Sooners Host Houston in 3-Game Series @ Love's Field: F, S, S

[EMan]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Quite frankly, Jayda and Cyd have both been in a bit of a slump lately so sitting them for a game doesn't seem unreasonable to me. One thing I've come to trust is how well Patty knows and manages her team. I think back to the time when she made Jocelyn Alo take a long break from softball in the middle of the season just to get her head straight about what she wanted. IMO, when it comes to her players, PG sees the big picture better than any other coach in the country. And she's definitely not worried about streaks or records. It's all about being the best they can be and doing what it takes to get there, even if it means a bump in the road during the season.

[TropicalSooner]

My belief is that Deal starts today.

With Coleman back, we probably go back to our regular lineup, assuming Sanders is back as well.

[BudaSooner]

My belief is that Deal starts today.

With Coleman back, we probably go back to our regular lineup, assuming Sanders is back as well.

Surprisingly, Jayda did not start at leadoff today, Ella Parker was tabbed to lead off the batting order, followed by Tiara, then Jayda.

Patty is obviously still tinkering with the lineup...

[TropicalSooner]

My belief is that Deal starts today.

With Coleman back, we probably go back to our regular lineup, assuming Sanders is back as well.

Surprisingly, Jayda did not start at leadoff today, Ella Parker was tabbed to lead off the batting order, followed by Tiara, then Jayda.

Patty is obviously still tinkering with the lineup...

Apparently so.
I don't recall her continuing to tinker this late in the past though. Maybe it is the new "analytics" that they are using.
Maybe there's some advantage to having the other team not know "who's on first" now.

[inconnu]

Seems to me that Brito has some of the effective motivational traits that Lyons had, namely her spiritualism. I'm hoping she becomes more of an inspiration in the remaining games of this 2024 season, and all cylinders of the 2024 Sooner softball machine become operational.

Yes, I originally entered the above comments on another thread, but this seems the more appropriate place for them.

[1KCSoonerFan]

Not being glib....but can anyone make the connection between spiritualism, analytics and statistics in softball? Not being glib...is there a connection between a player's or team's spiritualism and their OPS, BA, ERA, or Slug%? Are spiritual teams more successful than non-spiritual teams? How would this be measured accurately?

What is the connection between a player's or team's spiritualism and winning softball games? I mean, can it be a spiritual purpose and divine intention to lose games? Or is winning the only real spiritual outcome?....meaning, is losing - or under performing - less divine or spiritual?

Not being glib or trying to provoke anything....just curious about the connection. Seriously!

I can understand that a player can be a leader by encouragement, example, and energy invested in her teammates. I get that love and intention can have a spiritual basis. Does it have to be a specific kind of spiritualism? What kind of spiritualism is the softball kind?

We played BYU....(I assume Mormon spiritualism at play.)
We played Baylor....(I assume Baptist spiritualism at play.)
We played Lousiana....(i assume Voodoo spiritualism at play. Wink!

Are all these spiritualisms the same, or different? If different, how so?

I am open to other's thoughts on this.

[inconnu]

Seemed to me that Lyons had developed/used an ability to stave off worry about underperforming or being too uptight, and Brito expressed in a couple or so youtube press conferences that she bought into what Lyons was describing. I don't think in the last couple or 3 years that the OU girls didn't feel pressure, but I think they seemed to deal with it well enough to dominate a lot more and better than they have been able to this year.

[TropicalSooner]

I dunno...KC.......
Not sure I can hop on this bandwagon right now.
I think I see where you are coming from though....teams with a different spiritual (or religious) belief defeating the Sooners with their professed team of faith, did it help them? Our team has said many times how their faith has allowed them to play freer, and that seems to help them play better. And I support what they have said regarding this.
But outside of our own bubble, I'm not convinced that other teams' faiths have necessarily contributed to that teams' ability to win games in spite of defeating the Sooners. Look at the teams you have listed:
BYU--they are currently 26-19 overall and 8-13 in conference
Baylor--they are currently 25-18 overall and 8-13 in conference also
Louisiana--33-15 overall and 17-1 in their own conference

Plus, there are several West Coast Teams that will be post season challenges such as Stanford and Washington, and especially UCLA coming on strong now after a dubious season start. I certainly don't dump those schools in a group of "non-faith" teams, but they don't show it publicly like we do. But I'm betting they will be doing everything they can to topple the Sooners.

Your question of are all these spiritualisms the same? No, I can't go there.
But your larger question (unspoken perhaps?) does a team's faith help their program?
I guess that may be something to ponder.

[The Far Journey]

As has been said, it would seem logical that faith allows players to play freer, and that's a good thing for athletes or anyone, but it's not the only thing that determines wins and losses. Marry faith with great talent and great coaching, then you have three Natties in a row and maybe four. If you're missing the talent, then you'll likely be better than you otherwise would be, but that's about it. It seems to me faith reduces the pressure and allows the athlete to focus, to play their best, and to enjoy what their doing more.

[OUBeliever56A]

Deal Impressive in CG Shutout 2-Hitter while the Offense manages 5 runs in the Shutout Win!

Before I comment about the game I am going to comment about the Houston Cougars. They are not a good team right now in any way. It is unfortunate that we have two ex-Sooner athletes as coaches there. The team is not a team at all to me. The team went through a massive change in the off-season as Coach Vesely just about completely rebuilt the team and brought in many ex-Houston area players as transfers. The pitching staff was completely revamped too. The pitching staff is just lost except for Shelby Smith. I think injuries is part of that problem, but the effort does not seem to be there except for Smith in the circle. The defense is not very good either. They hitting has reduced to unenthused players that are going through the motions to me. The Cougars had 9 hits in three games. They had 6 walks also. That is 12 decent at bats in 3 games. Oklahoma's pitching is very good, but the Cougars hitters are just playing out the season i think. How in the world that team, Houston, beat Texas 12-10 3 or 4 weeks ago, I have no idea, no clue. I hope the team's performance does not cost the coaches their jobs when the year is over. Okay, on to the game.

Kierston Deal pitched the best game of her Sooner career against Houston on Sunday. She allowed 2 singles, walked 1 and struck out 10 batters in her 7-inning complete game shutout for her 10th win of the season. [Edit: the 19 originally typed was maybe wishful thinking for 2025.] She had 4 innings of three-up-and-three-down. She never faced more than 4 batters in an inning. She threw 68 strikes in her 110 pitches for 61.8% strikes. She was in control throughout the game and was never in any trouble in the game. she did have a few good plays behind her on defense that helped. Brito made a very nice play on a bunt to throw out the runner at first base and a nice catch of a hard ground ball at 3B for another nice play. Deal had two nice plays on two balls hit back at her hard for outs at 1B also. Jennings also timed her jump well on a line drive to SS to make another play. Torres and Hodge worked well together on a ball hit between them to get the out on a ground ball also.

Deal gave the Sooners all they needed to get the win on Sunday.

On offense, the effort was not a strong one. The lineup was a bit different as well. I think with 5 lefty hitters in the lineup, the Sooners minds on the bench decided to space the 5 left-handed hitters with a right-handed hitter between them. So the lineup ended up being this:

1-Parker DP, 2-Jennings SS, 3-Coleman CF, 4-Brito 3B, 5-Pickering RF, 6-Hansen C, 7-Hodge 2B, 8-Torres 1B, 9-Boone LF. I will admit I liked the LH-RH plan of the order.

The first four hitters gave OU enough for the win. Ella Parker opened the game with a double down the left field line. Tiare Jennings then hit a rope line drive that was simply just hit to low to be a HR, that was caught by the CF deep for the first out of the inning. Parker was alert and tagged up and advanced to 3B on the Jennings line drive out. Jayda Coleman then walked and then stole second base on a play where the catcher for Houston just held the ball and Coleman stole the base on a delayed basis beating the throw to 2B. Brito followed with a liner down the RF line that the right-fielder decided to dive to catch on a hop and was short on the effort. By the time the ball was retrieved at the wall, Brito had a triple and 2 RBIs as Oklahoma led 2-0. Kasidi Pickering walked (the first of four walks on the day by her) to set up a first and third situation. From what we saw, the play asked for was a bunt by Kinzie Hansen with Brito ready to score on a safe bunt. the bunt was popped up. That was out #2 with Brito and Pickering safe on the bases, but wait, with second base uncovered as the Houston defense moved to cover the bunt, Pickering stole 2B on the play late as no one was home at 2B. Hodge ended the inning with a popup to second base. Two hits, two walks, 2 runs for the Sooners.

In the second inning the Sooners got walks from Alynah Torres, and Jennings with two outs between them. Coleman then hit a fly ball to LF that carried more than the LF thought and as she tried to catch the ball, the ball came out of her glove, hit her hand, hit her body and then bounded away towards the line for a two-out error that plated both Torres and Jennings for two un-earned runs. Two walks, one ROE and two more runs for the Sooners.

In the third the Sooners had a walk and a single (Pickering walk, Hansen single) before there was an out and did not score.

In the fourth, Parker reached first on a error by the Cougar SS on a hard hit ground ball. The SS for Houston just never got her glove down at all. Coleman walked with with one out. Pickering walked with two outs to load the bases. Hansen then grounded out to end the inning.

In the fifth, with two outs, Rylie Boone singled on a nice bunt to put a runner on base. Parker than crushed a line line drive that I thought hit the top of the wall (the white area) and bounced back into the playing field for her second double of the game. Boone scored easy on the play. I thought the white area was a HR from what was said earlier in the year. But I guess not. Jennings then hit a line drive right at the SS that was caught to end the inning.

In the sixth, Brito doubled down the left field line for her second EBH of the game with one out. Pickering was then walked for the fourth time in the game. Pickering saw only 4 strikes in her four at bats on Sunday. Riley Ludlam then pinch hit for Hansen. I am not sure what happened on the next play. Ludlam hit a soft liner to the right side just to the right of the first base player. Pickering after her initial lead-off the bag ended up on the second base side of the first base player making the catch. At that point, she was going to be out one way or the other and she was. I don't know how Pickering got past the ball as much as she did unless she thought the ball was going to be deeper past the first base player on the hit and was moving towards 2B. But it was a ill-read ball off the bat by Pickering as he was double off the base to end the inning.

All in all, Oklahoma had 6 hits and 8 walks with 1 K. They had 3 doubles and 1 triple for EBH. Two Sooners reached base via an error. They picked up 2 stolen bases. And they left 10 runners of the 16 base runners on base. Five (5) of the eight (8) walks were left on base. Oklahoma only had 2 hits after two were out with both being in the 5th when OU scored.

After having a good offensive series in the first two games against Houston, This one was not a strong game. The three games total to a 29 for 76 weekend for a .382 BA weekend. A .520 OB% weekend and a .553 OB% with 4 doubles, 3 triples and 1 HR. Against the Houston pitching, the offense should probably have been better.

In the circle, the Sooners were very good. As I said earlier, they allowed 9 hits and 6 walks in the three games and allowed just 2 runs in 18 innings. The Sooners allowed a .150 BA Against by Houston and a .227 OB% and a .200 Slug% and a 0.78 ERA. Maxwell, Keeney, May, Monticelli and Deal were very good.

As a team, BA stayed the same (.379), the OB% went got better (.485), the Slug% (.681) dropped a bit and the ERA (1.56) was decreased this weekend. the 27 runners LOB in the three games raised the LOB/G stat to 6.34 per game which is up from 6.16. The percentage of runners LOB is now 40% on the year. But the Sooners average 15.9 base runners per game which makes up somewhat for the runners left on base. The Sooners are still averaging 8.39 Runs per game. Focus on that number and it will/should help your worries about the LOB number.

At 42-4 on the season. Only Boston U has as few as 4 losses. Eastern Kentucky has 5, Texas and Duke have 6 and Miami (OH) has 7 losses. Everyone else has at least 8 losses which is twice as many as OU.

Boomer Sooner!

[TropicalSooner]

Very nice recap, as always, and much appreciated.
I believe you had a typo in your top paragraph about the game though, you referred to Deal's complete game shutout for her 19th win. I think it was only her 10th win.
You might check me on this though.

[OUBeliever56A]

Very nice recap, as always, and much appreciated.
I believe you had a typo in your top paragraph about the game though, you referred to Deal's complete game shutout for her 19th win. I think it was only her 10th win.
You might check me on this though.

You are right and was trying to type 10.....opps. Maybe 19 next year!

Thanks.