Oklahoma Sooners open NCAA Tournament with 9-0 win over Cleveland State

Nicole May dominated Cleveland State with five shutout innings, nine strikeouts and no walks. Freshman Kasidi Pickering hit two home runs, Ella Parker added three RBIs, and Tiare Jennings ended the game with a walk-off home run to lead the Sooners to a 9-0 win.

In what was a pitchers duel through the first few innings turned into a rout as the Oklahoma Sooners beat the Cleveland State Vikings 9-0 to move to 1-0 in the Norman Regional.

The Sooners received. fantastic performance from senior [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag], who recorded nine strikeouts in five innings of shutout ball. She allowed just three hits and didn’t surrender a walk in the win.

[autotag]Kasidi Pickering[/autotag] got the scoring started for the Sooners in the second inning with a solo home run, one of two blasts she had in her first NCAA tournament game.

May and Cleveland State starter Melissa Holzopfel battled to a 1-0 game through three innings. Holzopfel even eliminated a Sooners scoring threat in the bottom of the third, escaping a bases loaded jam by striking out [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag].

But the Sooners broke through in the fourth inning to pull away from the Vikings.

Pickering singled and pinch runner [autotag]Hannah Coor[/autotag] advanced to second on [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag] sacrifice bunt. After Avery Hodge grounded back to the pitcher for the second out of the inning, the Sooners bats came to life.

[autotag]Rylie Boone[/autotag] singled to bring in Coor and make it 2-0. [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] followed that with a triple on a diving attempt by Cleveland State’s center fielder. That brought home Boone and put Oklahoma up 3-0. [autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag] continued her incredible postseason by driving in Coleman, and the Sooners had a commanding 4-0 lead heading into the fifth.

As she had all game, May was electric, getting a 1-2-3 inning to put the red hot Sooners offense back at the plate.

Pickering hit her second home run of the game and ninth of the season in the fifth to put the Sooners up 5-0. In the bottom of the sixth, Parker had a two-run double and [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] hit the 93rd home run of her career to end the game in walk-off, run-rule fashion.

Jennings’ home run was the 93rd of her career and tied her for fourth in NCAA history.

Nicole May’s nine-strikeout performance was a season-high. She was electric from the circle, showing off great location and power, and mixed up her pitches well. She struck out half of the 18 Cleveland State batters she faced to move to 13-2 on the season.

Coleman, Parker, and Jennings were really good, combining to go 5-for-10 with six RBIs. Parker and fellow freshman Pickering were instrumental in the victory, showing that they’re ready for the bright lights of the NCAA tournament.

The win put the Sooners on the winning side of the Norman Regional, where they’ll face the Oregon Ducks on day two. Oregon run ruled Boston earlier in the day Friday to advance in the winners bracket.

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Kierston Deal shines, Oklahoma Sooners beat Texas A&M Commerce 9-0 in five innings

Kierston Deal threw three innings of one-hit ball and the Oklahoma Sooners jumped out to a five-run first inning lead in their 9-0 win.

It didn’t take long for the Oklahoma Sooners to get going in their midweek showdown with Texas A&M Commerce. The Sooners jumped out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back en route to a 9-0 run rule win to improve to 19-1 on the season.

[autotag]Kierston Deal[/autotag] got the start for the Oklahoma Sooners. She allowed a lead-off single and then retired the next nine batters she faced in her three innings of work. She got out of the first inning with two strikeouts to keep Texas A&M Commerce from adding to the lead-off single.

[autotag]Rylie Boone[/autotag] led off the game with a walk, followed by a couple of flyouts from [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag] and [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag]. But the Sooners were masterful with two outs. [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] drew a four-pitch walk and [autotag]Kasidi Pickering[/autotag] continued her strong freshman campaign with a two-RBI double to put the Sooners up 2-0 in the first.

[autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] was intentionally walked bringing up freshman Ella Parker, who lined an 0-1 pitch to right field for the three-run home run to put the Sooners up 5-0 after the first.

After a 1-2-3 second inning from Deal, [autotag]Cydney Sanders[/autotag] led off the bottom of the second with a double and moved to third on Boone’s bunt single. Brito had another hard-hit ball to center field to bring home Sanders on the sacrifice fly and the Sooners led 6-0.

Deal threw another flawless inning in the third, picking up her fifth strikeout of the game.

In the bottom of the third, Hansen led off with a single to center. With [autotag]Riley Ludlam[/autotag] in to pinch run for Hansen, Pickering added her second RBI double of the game. Coleman singled to center field to bring home Pickering for the 8-0 lead. After [autotag]Hannah Coor[/autotag] entered the game to pinch run for Jennings, [autotag]Avery Hodge[/autotag] doubled to make it 9-0 in favor of the Sooners.

[autotag]Peytn Monticelli[/autotag] worked two scoreless innings of relief in the fourth and fifth to preserve the run-rule win. Over five innings of work, Deal and Monticelli combined to allow just two hits and one walk.

Deal is now 4-0 with a team-leading 0.97 ERA in 2024. Over her last four starts, Deal has now gone 19 innings without allowing a run. In that span she has a 0.63 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and has recorded 23 strikeouts.

Pickering was the only Sooner with multiple hits in the game. She now leads the Sooners with a .458 batting average. Boone, Hansen, and Coleman each had a walk and a hit in the win. Parker’s home run was her fourth of the season. Along with the four home runs, she now has 18 RBIs on the season, good for third on the team.

Oklahoma will open Big 12 play this weekend with a three game home slate against Iowa State. The Cyclones are currently 9-10 on the season ahead of their trip to Norman.

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Oklahoma Sooners run rule Central Arkansas 9-0 to open Cowgirl Challenge

Oklahoma Sooners opened their weekend in the Cowgirl Challenge with a 9-0 win over Central Arkansas.

The Oklahoma Sooners offense erupted in the bottom of the fourth inning for nine runs, which was all they needed to beat Central Arkansas and move to 5-0 on the season.

Central Arkansas starter Julia Petty kept the Sooners’ bats at bay for three innings, surrendering just a few hits. But in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Sooners bats came to life.

[autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error. True freshman [autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag] took advantage and drove Hansen in on an RBI single, giving the Sooners a 1-0 lead. Parker took second on the throw home. After [autotag]Kasidi Pickering[/autotag] walked, [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag] singled to bring Parker in to make it 2-0. Pickering went first to third on the hit to keep the scoring threat alive.

After Torres stole second, putting a pair of runners in scoring position, [autotag]Rylie Boone[/autotag] cleared the bases with a triple to right field. [autotag]Avery Hodge[/autotag] followed that up with a triple of her own to make it 5-0 Sooners with no outs in the inning.

Hodge scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0 followed by doubles from [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] and [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] made it 7-0. [autotag]Riley Ludlam[/autotag], pinch hitting for [autotag]Cydney Sanders[/autotag], reahed on an error and Hansen walked to load the bases for Parker. Parker came through again with an RBI single to score Jennings and make it 8-0 and put the run rule in effect. The final run of the nine-run fourth inning came from [autotag]Hannah Coor[/autotag], who reached on a fielder’s choice but scored Ludlam in the process.

It was the type of showing that reminded us that the Sooners can put runs on the board in a hurry. They sent 11 batters to the plate before Central Arkansas was able to record an out in the inning. By the time the bottom of the fourth came to a close, the game was all but over.

[autotag]Nicole May[/autotag] threw another four scoreless innings to keep her ERA at a perfect 0.00 on the season. She allowed one hit and one walk while striking out six for another fantastic performance from the Sooners veteran.

[autotag]Peytn Monticelli[/autotag] worked a scoreless fifth inning, surrendering a walk while also striking out the side to close out the Sooners win.

Coleman, Jennings, Parker, and Torres each recorded two hits. Parker and Boone each had a pair of RBIs.

It was a strong performance to start the weekend in Lake Charles. Though the bats were slow to get going, once they did, Oklahoma couldn’t be stopped. The Sooners extended their record winning-streak to 58 games with the win ahead of their night cap with McNeese State.

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Oklahoma Softball blasts Texas Tech again 11-0, moves to 35-0

In the second game of the series, the Sooners beat Texas Tech again 11-0 led by 4 home runs and a strong performance from Hope Trautwein.

The freight train that is the Oklahoma Sooners simply could not be stopped as OU once again beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders 11-0 in another run-rule victory. It was their 29th run rule win of the season to move to 35-0. Oklahoma is 5-0 in Big 12 play in 2022 and hasn’t lost a conference series since 2011.

Redshirt Senior Hope Trautwein was nearly flawless on the mound as she pitched yet another gem. Trautwein struck-out 7 batters and allowed only one hit on the afternoon to get her tenth win on the season. The only blemish to her stellar day was four walks, but Trautwein is now 10-0 and leads the nation with a 0.12 ERA.

The Sooners’ pitching staff has thrown four consecutive shutouts and hasn’t allowed more than one run in a game since March 10 against Baylor. That was also a run-rule victory.

The Sooners have the best ERA in the nation at 0.65. The second best? That would be UCLA at 1.16.

The Sooners once again blasted Texas Tech out of the ballpark with another four home runs to bring their total in the series to 10. Grace Lyons, Kinzie Hansen, Tiare Jennings and Grace Green all went yard on Saturday.

The Sooners also had some action on the basepaths with Hannah Coor and Turiya Coleman both stealing a base.

Oklahoma and Texas Texh will face off in the series finale on Sunday, with a first pitch slated for noon.

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Jordy Bahl fans 14, Oklahoma softball makes statement in win over No. 3 UCLA

Freshman pitcher Jordy Bahl struck out 14 UCLA hitters and the Sooners topped the No. 3 Bruins, 4-1.

In a battle of two of the sport’s titans, No. 1 Oklahoma delivered a statement to the college softball world that the defending champions are every bit as good as 2021. In fact, the Sooners might be better.

OU topped No. 3 UCLA, 4-1, in the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, Calif., as freshman pitcher Jordy Bahl baffled Bruins’ bats. Bahl struck out 14 UCLA batters, demonstrating that OU has found its new ace.

It was the most strikeouts by a Sooner pitcher since Giselle Juarez sat down 16 against Wisconsin in the Norman Regional in 2019 and the most by a Sooner freshman since Keilani Ricketts struck out 15 versus Texas A&M on April 10, 2010.

Bahl secured her second win of the season and now has 24 strikeouts in 12.2 innings.

Oklahoma head softball coach Patty Gasso shared some thoughts on Bahl’s performance against one of the country’s best teams afterwards. Eyes On Oklahoma newsletter and podcast host Joe Buettner shared Gasso’s postgame sentiments.

“For a freshman, just off the charts. I just think about it, when I look at her, I think about the future. But if you saw the kind of work that she puts in, she came in ready. She came in fit. She came in with all the tools and she’s just a workaholic. She works her tail off. She doesn’t take a day off,” Gasso said.

“She’s been training to compete at a whole other level and never do I think, ‘Okay, she’s struggling, let’s get her out.’ Even after some of those illegal pitches, didn’t really faze her. She just figured [it out]. I mean, just back to her drive. We got something special and I felt that this game—although it’s only our fourth game of the season—it just took her to another place of understanding about how this level and this elite game of what it feels like. So, it was really important for her to feel that.”

With Bahl surrendering just four hits, three walks and one unearned run, Oklahoma’s offense wasn’t pressed to score runs. OU did jump in front first during the second inning when senior Taylon Snow delivered an RBI single to score senior Jana Johns.

Then, after UCLA had tied it following an Oklahoma throwing error in the third, the Sooners answered right back. A hit by pitch to senior Grace Lyons and Johns’ second hit of the game set the stage for a two-run response. Junior Mackenzie Donihoo scorched an RBI single up the middle to score Lyons and senior Lynnsie Elam added an infield single to score Johns.

OU added an insurance run in the sixth after three Bruins errors allowed pinch runner Hannah Coor advance home to deliver the winning margin of 4-1.

To date, Oklahoma has outscored its opposition 32-1 while racing out to a perfect 4-0 start. Oklahoma concludes its play in the Mark Campbell Invitational on Sunday at 1 p.m. when the Sooners battle UC-San Diego.

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