Oklahoma’s Alynah Torres wins Big 12 Player of the Week

The Oklahoma Sooners picked up their third consecutive Big 12 Player of the Week with Alynah Torres taking home the weekly honor.

It was another strong week for the Oklahoma Sooners, earning a midweek win over UT Arlington and a sweep of of the Baylor Bears in a top 25 matchup.

The Sooners erupted for 39 runs in the four games sparked by Alynah Torres, who had a huge week at the plate.

In the Wednesday matchup with the Mavericks, Torres hit two home runs in the same inning, a pair of two-run bombs to help lead Oklahoma to the run-rule win. Then over the weekend, Torres had a pair of home runs, including a grand slam. She finished the week batting .625 with four home runs, 10 RBIs and four runs scored.

For her efforts, Torres was named Big 12 Player of the Week. It’s the first Big 12 weekly award for Torres. Torres extends the run of Sooners who have won the weekly honor, following Cydney Sanders and Tiare Jennings.

According to SoonerSports.com, over her last 19 games, Torres is hitting .526 with six home runs, two doubles, and 17 RBIs.

Torres and the Oklahoma Sooners are back in action this weekend in a three-game series against the Kansas Jayhawks.

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Clemson baseball, softball games canceled Tuesday

The Clemson Tigers’ scheduled baseball and softball games Tuesday have been canceled due to the threat of inclement weather.

CLEMSON, S.C. – Due to forecasted inclement weather, Tuesday’s baseball game against Coastal Carolina at Doug Kingsmore Stadium and Tuesday’s softball game against Georgia State at McWhorter Stadium are canceled.

Information on tickets for Tuesday’s canceled games and potential makeup games will be provided by the Clemson University athletic department ticket office once details relative to the potential makeup games are determined.

Clemson baseball travels to Miami (Fla.) for a three-game series, beginning Thursday at 7 p.m. on ACC Network. Clemson softball hosts Boston College for a three-game series, beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.

–via Clemson Athletic Communications

Lady Vols sweep South Carolina

Tennessee run-rules Gamecocks to sweep SEC series.

No. 7 Tennessee (26-4, 6-0 SEC) defeated No. 23 South Carolina (22-10, 0-6 SEC), 8-0 in six innings, at Carolina Softball Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina.

The Lady Vols remain as the only undefeated team in Southeastern Conference play. Tennessee also extended its win streak to 19 games.

Tennessee scored five runs in the sixth inning for a run-rule victory.

Zaida Puni went 1-for-3, recording one home run, three RBIs and one run, for Tennessee. Destiny Rodriguez went 2-for-3, recoding one double, one RBI and one run.

Laura Mealer went 3-for-3. She recoded one double, three RBIs and one run, while Sophia Nugent went 2-for-2. She recorded two RBIs and two doubles,

Taylor Pannell went 2-for-3 and recorded two runs.

Karlyn Pickens (14-2) pitched six innings. She allowed three hits and two walks, while recording 10 strikeouts.

Oklahoma Sooners game vs. Wichita State rescheduled for later in the season

The Sooners will no longer travel to Wichita State for a midweek game this week.

The Oklahoma Sooners will have nearly a week to prepare for their next game. That’s because their midweek contest with the [autotag]Wichita State Shockers[/autotag] slated for Tuesday has been rescheduled.

It is unclear why the game is being rescheduled, but in a release, Oklahoma moved to April 9, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. CT.

That contest will now be sandwiched in between a road series at the Texas Longhorns and a home series vs. the [autotag]BYU Cougars[/autotag]. That also means Oklahoma will now have four days off before they take on the Kansas Jayhawks in a three-game series starting on Thursday.

The first pitch on Thursday is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT, followed by a 5 p.m. CT start on Friday and a noon CT Saturday finale. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and 1560 AM/103.3 FM The Franchise 2 if you aren’t able to watch on TV.

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‘Oh she is a blessing’: Patty Gasso on being able to turn to Riley Ludlam at catcher

One of the unsung heroes for Oklahoma this year has been the play of transfer, Riley Ludlam.

The Oklahoma Sooners have been without one of their captains for some time now. [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] hasn’t played a full series since the Sooners played the [autotag]Iowa State Cyclones[/autotag] as she deals with a knee injury.

She’s only played two games since then. It’s been huge for Oklahoma that they can turn to someone with a lot of experience like [autotag]Riley Ludlam[/autotag]. Ludlam has started each of the last six games at catcher. Since replacing Hansen in the lineup in the opener against Texas Tech, she has just one hit, a home run, but she’s also walked 12 times and scored five runs.

“Oh she is a blessing,” Patty Gasso said of Ludlam. “We had a couple of catchers leave us unexpectedly and we went scrambling because a lot of catchers were already pulled in a lot of directions or universities. It was just a blessing for her and me to find each other. When I called her, she didn’t believe it was me. It took me a while to get her to understand that I am the coach at Oklahoma, and she came down for a visit. She was wonderful, her family was wonderful, and I knew I wanted her here.”

Ludlam had already proven to be a fantastic addition, even in a reserve role. But with Hansen out of the lineup, she’s become even more valuable. Her effectiveness at and behind the plate will allow the Sooners to be patient with Hansen’s recovery as the season goes along.

Ludlam is just one of many Sooners who aren’t talked about enough but are playing a big role right now.

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Oklahoma Sooners are taking it ‘one game, one week’ at a time

All they needed was a wake up call as the Oklahoma Sooners are back to showing their dominance.

The Oklahoma Sooners’ loss to Louisiana might have been the wake-up call they needed as a team.

That appears to be the case, as the Sooners have been flat-out dominant since suffering their first loss of the season. They are outscoring teams 137-16 during that span. That’s an average of 10.5 to 1.2. Just complete and utter dominance for the Sooners.

Jayda Coleman spoke about if they are on the path they need to be to hopefully win another national championship.

“I think where we’re going right now is really exciting,” Coleman said. “I think the main focus for us is to take it one game at a time. We have Wichita State. We have Kansas. Just thinking just one week at a time. If we start thinking about the postseason, that kind of thing, it’ll mess us up, so just one game at a time, one week at a time.”

The Sooners have done that so far this season. Now, they will spend a week in the state of Kansas.

They start things off on Tuesday with a midweek game against Wichita State before heading to play the Jayhawks on Thursday in a three-game week/weekend series. The Jayhawks are playing some really good softball. They are 7-2 in Big 12 play, with sweeps of Baylor and Houston to their ledger.

One thing Oklahoma can’t do is look ahead to next week as they have the big showdown with their rival down south. They’ve got to take care of business against a pair of teams from the Sunflower State on an NCAA Tournament trajectory.

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Oklahoma Sooners’ offense shines in sweep of the Baylor Bears

The Sooners offense was firing on all cylinders as the Sooners swept the Baylor Bears.

This past weekend it was all about the offense for the Oklahoma Sooners as they dominated the [autotag]Baylor Bears[/autotag] en route to a sweep. The Sooners outscored the Bears 27-8 over the three games.

The big offensive outburst was in the first game on Saturday. The Sooners entered the bottom of the fifth inning only up 5-3. They went on to score seven runs in the frame, capped off by an [autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag] walk-off grand slam to complete the run rule.

Patty Gasso talked about what impressed her the most on Saturday.

“The offense was explosive throughout the lineup,” Gasso said. “Timely hits all throughout the lineup, all day long. I thought our defense was really good too. I thought we made some big plays. Pitching was good, there were a few hiccups, but overall it was a good solid day against a very good team.”

The Sooners, although still very good, hadn’t seemed like itself earlier in the season. But, like the rest of the team, they’ve caught fire. They are now averaging just over nine runs a game. They are averaging 10.7 runs per game in conference play.

This is great news for Oklahoma. The pitching has been pretty stellar all season long, but the hitting had to pick up, and it has so far. It’s a perfect time to do so, as the Sooners have a big time matchup this week in Lawrence against a surprising Kansas Jayhawks team before traveling to Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns.

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Lady Vols win series against South Carolina

Tennessee shuts out Gamecocks to win SEC series.

No. 7 Tennessee (25-4, 5-0 SEC) defeated South Carolina (22-9, 0-5 SEC), 7-0, Sunday at Carolina Softball Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina.

The Lady Vols won the series and is the only remaining undefeated team in the Southeastern Conference.

Tennessee has won 17 consecutive games.

Rylie West went 1-for-2. She recorded a two-run home run, a sacrifice fly, three RBIs and one run for Tennessee.

Laura Mealer went 1-for-2 and hit a two-run home run for the Lady Vols. McKenna Gibson went 2-for-4. She recorded one run and one RBI.

Kiki Milloy’s 18-game hit streak ended as she went 0-for-3. She recoded two walks and one run.

Payton Gottshall (11-2) pitched a complete game for Tennessee. She pitched seven innings and allowed three hits and four walks, while recording seven strikeouts.

Auburn softball drops series finale to Texas A&M

Auburn led 6-1 through two innings but was outscored 13-0 the rest of the way to suffer the sweep in College Station.

No. 25 Auburn appeared to be well on its way to earning a win in its series finale with No. 12 Texas A&M on Sunday, but an Aggies offensive explosion quickly derailed the Tigers’ plans.

Auburn (15-9-1, 2-7 SEC) jumped out to a 6-1 lead in Sunday’s game with Texas A&M (18-4, 8-1 SEC) through two innings. However, the Aggies would outscore Auburn 13-0 over the final three innings to earn the 14-6 run-rule victory at the Aggie Softball Complex in College Station, Texas.

In a game where Auburn had a comfortable lead, head coach [autotag]Mickey Dean[/autotag] blamed his team’s defense and the youth in the circle for the loss.

“Our defense has been a strong point for us this season, and it let us down today,” Dean said postgame. “Texas A&M cut open with the bats. Our younger pitchers struggled a bit. The big innings for both teams were sparked by defensive miscues.”

Texas A&M struck first by stealing home to go ahead, 1-0, in the first inning. It would not take the Tigers long to respond, as they blasted through to put six runs on the board in the top of the 2nd inning. [autotag]Annabelle Widra[/autotag] tied the game with an RBI single, and [autotag]Abbey Smith[/autotag] gave Auburn the lead by taking a base on balls with the bases loaded.

[autotag]Mariah Penta[/autotag] blew the game open two batters later by crushing a grand slam over the left field fence to push the Tigers ahead, 6-1.

The lead, unfortunately, was short-lived, as the Aggies used two, two-run home runs and a double to tie the game at 6-6 in the 3rd inning. Texas A&M added seven more runs in the 4th inning, with the headliner of the inning coming off the bat of Rylen Wiggins. Wiggins smashed a two-run shot to right-center field to give Texas A&M the 13-6 lead.

Texas A&M’s final punch was a solo home run in the 5th inning by Koko Wooley to put the run-rule into effect.

[autotag]Nelia Peralta[/autotag] recorded two hits in the loss, while Mariah Penta led the team in RBI with four. Maddie Penta lasted 2 1/3 innings in the circle, allowing five runs on four hits while striking out one batter. Annabelle Widra, Emmah Rolfe, and Malayna Tamborra each saw action in the circle as well.

The Tigers will take a break from midweek action this week to focus on No. 7 Tennessee, who comes to town for a three-game set beginning Friday at Jane B. Moore Field in Auburn.

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Texas A&M Softball completes the sweep of No. 25 Auburn and are off to their best start in SEC play in program history

Texas A&M softball moves to 8-1 in SEC for their best start in league play since 2018

No. 13 Texas A&M (28-4, 8-1 SEC) stormed back from an early 5-1 deficit to run rule 14-6. No. 25 Auburn (15-9, 2-7 SEC) courtesy of a Koko Wooley walk-off home run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Aggies faced a new type of adversity early in game three against the Auburn Tigers, falling into the deepest hole they have been in all season long. After taking a 1-0 lead due to Koko Wooley’s elite baserunning, Aggie starter Brooke Vestal ran into some trouble in the second inning, allowing two runs and loading the bases before Coach Trisha Ford brought Emily Leavitt in to relieve her.

It almost seemed like Leavitt would also get pulled after the second hitter she faced hit a grand slam to put the Tigers up 6-1. However, Leavitt got out of the inning without any other runs crossing home plate. Then, after a scoreless second inning from the Aggies, they went gangbusters to the tune of 12 runs over the next two innings.

Some of the highlights were back-to-back two-run home runs by Trinity Cannon and Allie Enright, which tied the game in the bottom of the third inning. Then, in the fourth, they followed up with a pair of two-run hits by Julia Cottrill and Allie Enright to go up 11-6. The fourth inning was then capped off by a solo home run by Rylan Wiggins.

Needed one run to run-rule Auburn on Sunday afternoon, Aggie speedster Wooley hit a walk-off home run on the first pitch see-saw in the bottom over the 5th inning for a 14-6 victory. This win means that the A&M softball team is off to their best start in six years.

Day three:

Texas A&M vs Auburn / Win / 14-6

  • Total offense:  11 hits, 14 runs
  • Pitching: Emily Leavitt W (6-0): 4.0 innings, 5 Ks, 69 pitches.

Texas A&M will bet a few days off, then they will head to Baton Rouge to take on their toughest opponent of the season, the No. 2 LSU Tigers, in a three-game series starting on Thursday, April 2, at 6 p.m. CT.

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