In a duel between USA Softball National Player of the Year Top 10 finalists, Jordy Bahl and Kelly Maxwell made the two sides in the opener of the work in the opening frames of Bedlam Thursday night. Bahl and Maxwell kept the offenses at bay through the first two innings of the game.
That changed for the Sooners in the bottom of the third as they began to mount pressure against Oklahoma State pitcher Kelly Maxwell leading to four runs in the bottom of the third. Jordy Bahl took advantage of the run support and continued her excellent true freshman campaign.
In her seven innings pitched, Bahl struck out six Cowgirls and didn’t walk a batter. She attacked all evening, getting ahead of hitters and not allowing Oklahoma State to string together much of an offensive attack.
The Sooners’ offense got going in the third thanks to an RBI single from Jocelyn Alo, followed by a three-run home run by Tiare Jennings. They came through in the clutch, scoring all of their runs with two outs in the frame.
No Sooner collected more than two hits in the game, but they were buoyed by six walks from Maxwell. Oklahoma made Maxwell throw 138 pitches on the evening compared to an efficient 87 for Bahl.
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will go back to the diamond on Friday night for game two of Bedlam. If the Sooners are able to pull out another victory, they’ll clinch the Big 12 regular-season title for the 10 straight season and 14th time in school history.
Let’s take a look back at the big win from Thursday night in stunning still images.