Tag: Grace Green

Oklahoma Sooners blast Kansas Jayhawks in 14-0 win

Oklahoma moved to 44-1 on the season with their 36th-straight win, a 14-0 no-hitter over the Kansas Jayhawks, earning at least a share of the Big 12 title.

The Oklahoma Sooners remained undefeated in Big 12 play with a 14-0 win over Kansas on Saturday to pick up their second run-rule win of the series.

After launching four home runs in their 8-0 win on Friday, the Sooners hit three more in the win.

Pitcher Nicole May and Kierston Deal combined for a five-inning no-hitter for the Sooners’ 28th shutout on the season and their fifth in a row dating back to the Baylor series. In Big 12 play, the Sooners have collected eight consecutive shutout wins after shutout sweeps of Texas Tech, Baylor, and in the first two games of the series against Kansas.

Oklahoma opened the scoring in the first inning off of a Cydney Sanders RBI single, but they weren’t done there, collecting a total of eight runs on seven hits in the frame.

A leadoff single from Jayda Coleman was followed with another one from Tiare Jennings. On a tear in recent weeks, Sanders was moved up into the third spot in the order and came through with the first run of the game.

With one out in the first, Alyssa Brito and Haley Lee provided RBI singles to make it 4-0 Oklahoma. Lee eventually scored on an error by the catcher to make it 5-0. Rylie Boone walked to put two on and two out for Jayda Coleman who bombed her team-leading 13th home run of the season and a home run in consecutive games.

Oklahoma scored eight runs on seven hits in the first.

In the third, the Sooners put up a trio of runs with more power hitting. Jocelyn Erickson hit a one-out double and then Kinzie Hansen followed it up with her 10th home run of the season. Tiare Jennings provided a sacrifice fly to make it 11-0.

In the fourth, Oklahoma put up another three-spot. Grace Lyons was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Sophia Nugent singled to put a pair of runners on for senior Grace Green. Green, who only had 19 at-bats on the season, and hadn’t appeared in a game in two weeks, launched a three-run home run for the 26th home run of her career.

It was a special moment for the senior, who had become a key piece off the bench for the Sooners over the last several years. Patty Gasso was emotional in the postgame, talking about Grace Green.

It was a balanced attack from the Sooners who got another stellar outing from Nicole May. May went four innings and only allowed one Jayhawks batter to reach base. She had four strikeouts moving to 14-0 on the season and lowering her ERA to 0.41.

The Sooners have won 36 games in a row and are now 44-1. The win ensures them a share of the Big 12 title. A win over Kansas in the Sunday game would give them the outright regular season championship.

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Oklahoma Sooners dominate UCLA 15-0, advance to WCWS Championship

Jocelyn Alo went 4-for-4 with 2 home runs and 7 RBIs and Hope Trautwein allowed just two hits as the Oklahoma Sooners dominated UCLA 15-0 to roar into the WCWS championship series.

After falling to the UCLA Bruins 7-3 in the first game of the day, the Oklahoma Sooners responded to their first loss of the NCAA tournament in a resounding fashion. They beat the 12-time national champions 15-0 to advance to the Women’s College World Series championship and continue their quest to go back-to-back and win their sixth national championship.

As they’ve done in each of the last two seasons following a loss, the Oklahoma Sooners left no doubt in this one, jumping on UCLA from the get-go.

The top of the order came out hot as [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] opened the game with a lead-off walk. [autotag]Jocelyn Alo[/autotag] moved Coleman on a double to right-center and [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] crushed a three-run home run for her 27th of the season to left.

After the three-run shot from Jennings, Alo had a feeling about how game two was going to go against UCLA. And both the offense and the defense proved her right. The ESPN broadcast caught video of Alo telling her teammates that they’d only need five innings in the second game.

The Sooners added three more runs in the top of the second, this time off the bat of the NCAA all-time home run leader, who launched her own three-run home run of the season. Alo provided the action to go with her words. She ended the day going 4-for-4 with two home runs and seven RBIs to lead the Sooners in their 15-0 win. But she didn’t do it alone, [autotag]Hope Trautwein[/autotag] was fantastic as well.

Trautwein allowed just two hits, no walks, and struck out six Bruins to dominate the Bruins. She allowed a double in the bottom of the first and then would go on to retire 12 straight Bruins before allowing her second hit of the afternoon.

And if the Bruins were hoping they’d have a shot to extend the game to seven innings, the Oklahoma Sooners left no doubt that the game would end in five.

In the top of the fifth, the Oklahoma Sooners sent 11 batters to the plate, scoring eight runs on six hits, with a walk and a hit by pitch.

[autotag]Grace Lyons[/autotag] led off with a hit by pitch and [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag] followed that up with a single. Another single by [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] loaded the bases for [autotag]Grace Green[/autotag] who ripped a single of her own scoring Lyons to make it 8-0. [autotag]Rylie Boone[/autotag] continued her hot Women’s College World Series with a two-RBI single to score Brito and Hansen. After [autotag]Jana Johns[/autotag] singled to left to load the bases, Jayda Coleman picked up her second walk of the game, this time pushing home Green to make it 11-0 and load the bases for “Home Run Queen” Jocelyn Alo.

In fitting fashion, Alo worked the count to her favor and blasted her second homer of the day for a grand slam to make it 15-0 to put the game far out of reach of any type of comeback from the highly-ranked Bruins.

The Oklahoma Sooners picked up their 40th run-rule win of the season and Jocelyn Alo now has 32 home runs and 82 RBIs on the season.

After a letdown in the first game of the day, the Oklahoma Sooners left no doubt as to their status as the favorites to win it all. Now they await the winner of the other semifinal this evening between the Oklahoma State Cowgirls and the Texas Longhorns. Either way, the Sooners will face a team that has a win over them.

They avenged their April loss to Texas in the winner’s bracket of the Women’s College World Series. Prior to their loss to UCLA, the Cowgirls were the last team to beat the Sooners, picking up a win in the Big 12 championship game.

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Sooners finish 4-1 in Hillenbrand Invitational

Oklahoma softball finished 4-1 in the Hillenbrand Invitational in Tuscon, Arizona to improve to 8-1 on the season.

Oklahoma softball finished 4-1 in the Hillenbrand Invitational in Tuscon, Arizona to improve to 8-1 on the season. Their lone loss was to Long Beach State.

The Sooners beat Bryant and Northern Iowa on Friday before dropping their first game of the season to Long Beach State 5-4 early Saturday. The Sooners bounced-back with a 6-4 extra-inning win over No. 4 Arizona Saturday night, and capped off the invitational with a run-rule win over NIU early Sunday.

Oklahoma led for a majority of the contest against Long Beach State, but gave up four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to fall to the Sharks. Shannon Saile took the Sooners first loss in the circle.

It took the Sooners ten innings to beat the Wildcats Saturday night. Lynnsie Elam homered in the sixth inning to cut the lead to one, and junior Taylon Snow batted in the tying run that would send the game into extras.

After scoreless eighth and ninth innings, Snow scored the winning run after Grace Green smacked a ball into left field that was dropped.

Jocelyn Alo, Green, and Elam all finished with two hits in the Sooners 8-0 win over NIU on Sunday.

Next up, the Sooners travel to Cathedral City, Calif. to participate in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, taking on Nebraska and Texas A&M on Friday, Seattle and No. 1 Washington on Saturday, and Wisconsin on Sunday.

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Oklahoma softball with three players on Player of the Year Watch List

Three members of the Oklahoma softball team were named to the 2020 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List on Wednesday.

Three members of the Oklahoma softball team were named to the 2020 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List on Wednesday.

Senior pitcher Giselle Juarez, junior utility player Jocelyn Alo and sophomore utility player Grace Green were apart of the 50 person list.

Oklahoma tied with Alabama, Arizona, Texas and Washington for three player selections. Juarez was a 2019 first-team All-American, Alo earned second-team honors and Green a third-team.

Juarez makes her case with the second-best opponent batting average in Oklahoma history, holding the opposition .151. She’s averaged 10.11 per seven innings pitched.

Alo tied the team-high with 56 RBI’s, and had 17 games with at least two hits in 2019.

Green earned the Big 12 Freshman of the Year Award last season.

The list will be narrowed down to 25 on April 22. Players do not have to be on the preseason Watch List to win the award, but will need to be on the final 25 list.

Oklahoma kicks off their 2020 season on Feb. 6 against Nevada at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Oklahoma softball ranked No. 3 in both preseason polls

The Oklahoma softball team will enter the 2020 season ranked No. 3 in both major preseason polls.

The Oklahoma softball team will enter the 2020 season ranked No. 3 in the country in both the USA TODAY/NFCA Div. I Coaches Poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Preseason Top 25.

Alabama and Washington hold the top-two spots, respectively, while UCLA and Arizona hold the fourth and fifth spots. 

Oklahoma earned their 13th appearance in the Women’s College World Series last season, cruising to a 57-6 record but finishing as the runner-ups to UCLA. It was head coach Patty Gasso’s 25th season with the Sooners.

Oklahoma is returning two first-team All-Americans in pitcher Giselle Juarez and utility Jocelyn Alo. Grace Green, a third-team All-American, is also returning. 

This is the 10th-straight year the Sooners have started in the NFCA’s top 10, the nation’s longest active streak. 

As it stands, the Sooners will face eight ranked teams. Their top-five matchups include No. 5 Arizona on Feb. 15 and top-ranked Washington in the Mary Nitter Collegiate Classic on Feb. 22. 

Oklahoma opens their season on Thursday, Feb. 6 against Nevada in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.