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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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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Best Photos from Oklahoma’s doubleheader sweep of the Baylor Bears

A look at the best photos from the Sooners doubleheader with the Baylor Bears

The Sooners are now on a 13-game winning streak after their sweep of the Baylor Bears.

The wins over Baylor marked their first top 25 wins since early in the season when they knocked off top 10 teams Washington and Duke.

The games set the stage for a stretch of games against Wichita State, Kansas (yes, Kansas), and the Texas Longhorns. It’s a stretch that could have a huge impact on the Big 12 title race as Texas sits second in the standings and Kansas is a half-game back of Oklahoma State ahead of the Jayhawks series finale against Houston on Sunday.

It was another capacity crowd at Love’s Field on Saturday as the Sooners announced a record attendance of 4,520 on-site to watch the top 25 matchup. The fans in attendance were treated to a show as the Sooners scored 19 runs on Saturday and hit seven home runs.

Here’s a look at some of the best photos from the Sooners doubleheader sweep of Baylor.

‘I try not to over-contemplate things’: Ella Parker taking the same approach to conference play

Oklahoma’s star freshmen starting to settle in now that conference play is here.

The Oklahoma Sooners put together one of the best freshman classes in the country this past season. It’s highlighted by two players who have made immediate contributions, [autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag] and [autotag]Kasidi Pickering[/autotag].

Both have had great starts to their seasons. Parker is hitting .441, which is second on the team, with five home runs and 27 RBIs. Pickering is hitting .412 with four home runs and 22 RBIs.

Earlier in the season, the Sooners were playing five games just about every weekend, which can be a grind. Jayda Coleman even spoke about how tough that is and they are just now finding a groove as a team.

But it’s the same way for the freshmen. Ella Parker talked about her approach to playing five different teams in one weekend vs. playing the same team three times. “I keep it very simple,” Parker said. “I try not to over-contemplate things. That’s what’s helped me stay locked into each different team.”

Parker and Pickering are the future of the program, but they’ve been a big part of Oklahoma’s success this season. They both have played in every game so far this season. That right there just shows the confidence the team and coaches have in them.

But we’ve seen freshmen in every sport hit a freshman wall at some point in the season. As of now, that hasn’t happened with these girls and the hope is, it won’t happen anytime soon.

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‘She’s been waiting to have the offensive explosion’: Alynah Torres steals the show in Sooners win

The Sooners won big in their midweek game against UT Arlington in large part to the bat of Alynah Torres.

The Oklahoma Sooners put together a dominant showing in their midweek game against UT Arlington on Wednesday. The Sooners run-ruled the Mavs 12-1 in five innings.

It was in large part thanks to a big 2nd inning for the Sooners. They rattled off 10 runs to run away from the Mavericks. A big part of that was the bat of [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag].

Torres hit a two-run shot to center field early in the inning to help the Sooners take a 2-1 lead. She then made it back around and ended the scoring for the inning with another two-run shot, this time to left field to put Oklahoma up 10-1.

Patty Gasso shared what she has seen from her senior utility player. “She’s been waiting to have the offensive explosion that she’s used to before she came here,” Gasso said. “It’s hard when you have a new hitting coach and you are learning new things and trying to feel what feels right. So, a lot of that, I think she’s peaking now like this is what she’s been waiting for. She’s absolutely crushing the ball but what I love about Alynah is she’s just clutch in so many different ways. Not just offensively but defensively, we put her in a lot of different places.”

Torres transferred to Oklahoma last season after spending her first three years at Arizona State. She had 37 home runs in those three seasons before only having two a season ago at Oklahoma. This year, she is hitting .400 with four home runs and 14 RBIs.

Torres talked about what she thinks the difference has been for her lately. “I’m just having fun with my teammates, honestly, and just keeping it really simple,” Torres said. “I’m not trying to critique everything I’m doing, just having fun and seeing ball, hit ball.”

Torres is another one of several Sooners starting to find their groove. Now, it’s up to them to keep it going as Oklahoma begins a three-game series with a top 25 Baylor team.

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‘It’s always fun playing at the Hall of Fame Stadium’: Sooners excited for Friday’s game in Oklahoma City

The Sooners are set to make their return to Hall of Fame Stadium against the Baylor Bears on Friday.

The Oklahoma Sooners are hoping to keep their new winning streak alive with a win on Wednesday against UT Arlington. That’s before they have a top-20 matchup against the [autotag]Baylor Bears[/autotag] this weekend.

Game one will take place at a stadium the Sooners know all too well, Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. The Sooners have had great memories there winning the last three national championships on that field.

Jayda Coleman talked about what it’s like to play at that stadium. “It’s always fun playing at the Hall of Fame Stadium,” Coleman said. “I think we are actually lucky we get to play there before the College World Series. Just getting to feel it out, feel the field out. Also, get to feel the fans because there are a lot more fans there. But I’m super excited for that game.”

This will be just a one-game stop for the Sooners as they’ll close out the series in Norman on Saturday and Sunday. But as Coleman said, it’s always good to get a feel of that environment before the WCWS starts up. It’s one advantage Oklahoma has compared to other teams is they can schedule a game up there during the regular season.

But before we get there, they must take care of business against UT Arlington first.

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‘You can see a kind of energy switch’: Jayda Coleman talks about when the Sooners settled in

Jayda Coleman after a rough start is starting to round into form for the Sooners.

Earlier in the season the Oklahoma Sooners just looked off. It was hard to pinpoint what exactly the issue was but they just didn’t look as crisp as we had grown accustomed to seeing.

Whether that was in the field, pitching or even at the plate the team just hadn’t locked in yet. Nothing was a greater example of that than their loss to Louisiana snapping their 71-game winning streak. It wasn’t just that they lost, but there were several uncharacteristic errors in the field and on the base paths that led to the loss.

One of the players it was most noticeable with was [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag]. Coleman has been one of the best players on the team since she first came to Norman back in 2021. She’s been instrumental in them winning three straight national championships.

Her defense is elite and has been good this year as well but something has seemed off with her offense until lately. Coleman talked about what was happening earlier in the season.

“It’s really hard to get into your groove when you’re playing five different teams I feel like,” Coleman said. “So, those first three tournaments are always kind of brutal. But honestly probably around when we lost our first game, probably that next practice you can see a kind of energy switch towards our team and we usually have that every year. There’s a point in the season where we are like ‘Okay, now we know how it’s supposed to feel. This is what it’s supposed to feel like every day at practice and when we come to the games, it should show up.’ So, I would say somewhere around our first loss.”

Coleman is batting .529 since the loss to Louisiana. She’s also hit one home run and has six RBIs in that stretch. It’s been clear since the loss that Coleman and the Sooners are settling into a groove.

Which is a scary sign for the rest of the college softball world.

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Sooners score 12 in the first to wreck the Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Oklahoma Sooners got off to a hot start in their 15-2 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

The Oklahoma Sooners got off to a phenomenal start in their 15-2 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders with 12 runs in the first inning before ever registering and out. And they never looked back.

[autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] swung at the first pitch she saw, dribbling it into center field. After Coleman took second on a passed ball, [autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag] beat out a play to first to put runners on the corner, and Kasidi Pickering walked to load the bases for the red-hot Cydney Sanders. Sanders singled to right field, bringing in Coleman to take a 1-0 lead.

Tiare Jennings then doubled to bring two more in, and [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag] drew another Sooners walk to load the bases again. [autotag]Riley Ludlam[/autotag] walked to make it 4-0. RBI singles from [autotag]Avery Hodge[/autotag] and [autotag]Rylie Boone[/autotag] made it 6-0 as the Sooners batted around in the first inning.

Still, with no outs and the bases loaded, [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] drew a walk to make it 7-0, and [autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag] singled to bring in Hodge and Boone, and the Sooners were up 9-0. Then the Sooners got their only home run of the inning, a three-run shot to right by [autotag]Kasidi Pickering[/autotag] to put Oklahoma up 12-0 before registering their first out of the game.

It was an incredible effort from the Sooners, who drew five walks in the inning.

According to SoonerSports.com, the 12 runs were the most scored in an inning by the Sooners since 2022 against the Kansas Jayhawks.

In the circle, Kierston Deal allowed a solo home run in the first and one in the fourth. They were the first runs she’d given up since her start against Long Beach State in Puerto Vallarta to start the season. Deal threw 3.1 innings, allowing just three hits, no walks and recording one strikeout. Despite the home runs, it was another strong performance for Deal who has been great over the last month.

[autotag]Karlie Keeney[/autotag] pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, striking out two Red Raiders without allowing a hit.

Texas Tech came into the series third in the conference in runs scored and home runs, and the Sooners’ pitching staff has allowed just two runs through 12 innings.

[autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag], who reached base in all five plate appearances on Friday night, did it again Saturday. She was 2-for-2 with a double, a walk, and three RBIs. This weekend, she’s 5-for-5 with two doubles, two home runs, three walks and nine RBIs.

[autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag], batting in the two spot, was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. The Sooners leader in batting average is now hitting .450 as a true freshman.

The Sooners look to close out their series in Texas Tech with a sweep Sunday at Noon. Oklahoma is now 26-1 (5-0 Big 12) this season and riding an eight game winnings streak.

After [autotag]Kelly Maxwell[/autotag] pitched Friday night and Deal threw on Saturday, [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag] will likely get the ball to close out the series.

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Kelly Maxwell dazzles, Tiare Jennings hits two home runs in Sooners win over Texas Tech

The Oklahoma Sooners got a fantastic outing from Kelly Maxwell and Tiare Jennings launched two home runs as the Sooners beat Texas Tech 14-0

The No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners traveled to Lubbock, Texas, to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders. OU took the first of three games 14-0.

[autotag]Kelly Maxwell[/autotag] threw six innings, striking out 10, allowing two hits and four walks to move to 8-0 on the season, and [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] led the way with two home runs and six RBIs.

Oklahoma got the scoring going in the top of the first. After [autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag] stole second, Jennings brought her home on an RBI double to put Oklahoma up 1-0.

In the second inning, [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] hit her seventh home run of the season to put Oklahoma up 2-0.

In the third innings, the Sooners put up three runs on a pair of walks from [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] and [autotag]Cydney Sanders[/autotag] and the first of Jennings’ two home runs to give the Sooners a commanding 5-0 lead.

Oklahoma added another run in the fourth to make it 6-0.

Maxwell cruised throughout the game until running into a bit of trouble in the sixth inning. She allowed a leadoff walk, then hit the next Texas Tech batter before issuing another walk to load the bases. The veteran star then showed incredible poise, striking out the next three Red Raider hitters to keep the game scoreless through six.

Then in the top of the seventh, the Sooners lineup put an exclamation point on the evening with an eight-run inning to leave no doubt.

Alyssa Brito led off the inning with a single and then Tiare Jennings launched her second home run of the game to put OU up 8-0. [autotag]Riley Ludlam[/autotag] walked and then with one out, so did Alynah Torres. Singles by [autotag]Rylie Boone[/autotag] and [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] and a [autotag]Cydney Sanders[/autotag] fielder’s choice tacked on three more runs before [autotag]Maya Bland[/autotag] doubled to bring in two more and make the score 13-0. Jennings and Ludlam walked to load the bases for [autotag]Quincee Lilio[/autotag] who also walked to score Bland and make it 14-0 Oklahoma.

[autotag]Peytn Monticelli[/autotag] came in to pitch a scoreless seventh, striking out two and hitting a batter to close out the game.

The Sooners moved to 25-1 on the season and 4-0 in Big 12 play.

Tiare Jennings led the way at the plate with a 3-for-3 day with two home runs, six RBIs, a double, and two walks. She retook the team RBI lead and now sits with nine home runs and 31 RBIs on the season. Jennings’ batting average is now up to .423.

Cydney Sanders, who had been red hot in the month of March, didn’t record a hit in the game, but walked four times had an RBI and scored a run. Jayda Coleman was 2-for-4 and reached base on a walk.

Over her last three starts, Kelly Maxwell is 3-0 and hasn’t allowed a run while recording 25 strikeouts in 18 innings pitched.

It was a strong performance to set the stage for the weekend on a cool night in Lubbock. The Sooners will take the field Saturday at 1 p.m. CT against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

More: How to watch the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas Tech

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