The Utah Utes opened the scoring on an inside-the-park home run from Aliya Belarde in the top of the first. Bahl settled back in and retired seven straight to take control of the game.
Oklahoma responded in a big way in the bottom of the first. [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] drew another walk to lead off the game and [autotag]Grace Lyons[/autotag] drove her in with an RBI double. With the game tied at one, Tiare Jennings launched her second home run of the season to put Oklahoma ahead 3-1.
After [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag] retired the Utes in order in the top of the second, the Oklahoma offense added six more to their lead in the bottom half of the inning.
[autotag]Sophia Nugent[/autotag] was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag]’ double brought her in to make it 4-1 Oklahoma. Coleman got on base again, this time with a one-out single. After Grace Lyons’ fly out, Tiare Jennings drew a two-out walk.
With the bases loaded, [autotag]Haley Lee[/autotag] drove in Torres on an error to make it 5-1. True freshman phenom [autotag]Jocelyn Erickson[/autotag] came to the plate with the bases loaded and drove a 1-2 pitch to left for a double, scoring Coleman and Jennings to make it 7-1. [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag] followed that up with a single on a full count to push Lee and Erickson across the plate to make it 9-1 Sooners.
Bahl allowed runs to score in the third and fourth before settling back in to retire the Utes in order in the top of the fifth. [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag] took over in the sixth and retired five straight Utes to close the game out for the Sooners.
May has now pitched 21 scoreless innings to start the 2023 season.
Oklahoma is now 11-1 on the season. They’ll face Loyola Marymount in the second game on Saturday before taking on the UCLA Bruins on Sunday.
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