Tag: OU Tournament

Oklahoma Sooners beat Liberty Flames 15-3 behind 7 extra base hits

Behind seven extra base hits, the Oklahoma Sooners cruised to a 15-3 win over Liberty.

The Oklahoma Sooners bats came to life in a 15-3 throttling of the Liberty Flames to improve to 18-0 on the season. In the process, they extended their record win streak to 71 games.

[autotag]Nicole May[/autotag] got the start for the Sooners. After giving up three runs in the first inning to Miami (OH), May held the Red Hawks scoreless for the remainder of her outing. That continued against Liberty on Saturday as she threw three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit in the process.

The Sooners got the scoring going in the second inning when [autotag]Cydney Sanders[/autotag] launched a solo shot to deep left-center field. It was her third home run of the season on a day where Sanders went 2-for-2 with the home run, a double, a walk, and four RBIs.

Still in the second, after she doubled and advanced to third on a [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] single, [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag] scored on a passed ball to make it 2-0. [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] then crushed her sixth home run of the season to make put OU up 4-0. [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] then added another run on a Liberty throwing error to put the Sooners well in front 5-0.

More: Social media reacts to Sooners walk-off win in Love’s Field opener

In the Sooners next at bat in the bottom of the third, the Sooners put up seven runs on five hits. Sanders added three runs in a base-clearing double to put Oklahoma up 12-0 after three.

In the bottom of the fourth, [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] had an RBI single and [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag] a two-run home run, putting Oklahoma up 15-0.

More: Best photos from Opening Day at Love’s Field.

Oklahoma allowed three runs in the top of the fifth on back-to-back home runs, but the game was already well decided at that point.

Six different Sooners had at least two hits, led by Coleman’s three-hit game.

Oklahoma will close out the OU Tournament with a game against Louisiana on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT at Love’s Field.

More: How to watch No. 1 Oklahoma in the OU Tournament

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Oklahoma Sooners earn 70th win in a row with 8-0 win over Louisiana

The Oklahoma Sooners extended their win streak to 70 with an 8-0 win over Louisiana.

The Oklahoma Sooners moved to 17-0 with an 8-0 win over the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns in the first of two games on Saturday. OU has now won an incredible 70 games in a row.

[autotag]Kierston Deal[/autotag] got the start and worked four scoreless innings, allowing three hits, two walks, and a hit batter with two strikeouts in the outing. [autotag]Peytn Monticelli[/autotag] came in and threw a scoreless fifth inning to help Oklahoma seal the win.

Oklahoma’s offense got going early with a three-run first inning. [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag], [autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag], and [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] each had an RBI double in the frame to put the Sooners up early.

The Sooners added four more runs in the second. [autotag]Riley Ludlam[/autotag] led off with a solo home run before Brito doubled home [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] for her second extra-base hit of the game. Parker walked to load the bases and [autotag]Avery Hodge[/autotag] earned another walk to score [autotag]Riley Boone[/autotag]. [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] closed the scoring with a sacrifice fly to put the Sooners up 7-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag] smashed her third double of the day, and after a passed ball allowed Brito to get to third and eventually scored on [autotag]Maya Bland[/autotag]’s ground out.

The Sooners will take on Liberty in the afternoon part of their Saturday double-header after beating the Flames 8-0 on Friday night.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.

Love’s Field marks new beginnings built on historic success

Love’s Field ushers in new era of Oklahoma Sooners softball built on success of Patty Gasso and OU teams of the past and present.

The Oklahoma Sooners will host the OU Tournament this weekend in Norman. They’ll carry a 67-game winning streak into the weekend, looking to extend it to 72.

They’ll try to make it just another day at the ballpark. But for Patty Gasso and the Oklahoma Sooners softball program, today is unlike any other they’ve experienced.

The Sooners’ living legend of a head coach has created a dynasty at Oklahoma but is still taken aback by what she and her program have accomplished with the move to Love’s Field.

“I don’t know what to tell you about Love’s Field, because it’s still a dream,” Gasso told reporters earlier this week. “Until the first pitch is thrown is when I will really pinch myself.”

Friday marks the grand opening of Love’s Field, the 4,200-seat stadium built on the sweat equity and success of Gasso and the Sooners. Success that has come over almost three decades at the University of Oklahoma.

Gasso, who helped move Oklahoma from Reaves Park in Norman to Marita Hynes Field, will usher the Sooners and their passionate fan base into a stadium that will triple the capacity of their previous home. As she considers what this means for her team and for softball, Gasso reflects back on how far they’ve come.

“I think of the 2000 team,” Gasso said. “I think of the team that was over at Reaves and never got a locker room. … I think about those athletes that are alums but never got to experience this. So what we’re really trying to do is embrace all of our alumni and say, ‘You’ve all built this.’

The Sooners have had the best home-field advantage in softball for years now. Sooner softball has long been the hottest ticket of the spring, made even more sought after during their three-plus-year reign atop the college softball world.

But it isn’t just the recent success that’s driven the need for greater fan capacity in the softball capital of the world. It’s the success that Gasso has had over three decades in Norman, compiling seven national championships with a team that’s been a huge part of the growth of the sport across the country.

And although she’s seen the stadium while it progressed to completion, Gasso’s looking forward to seeing Love’s Field with a capacity crowd.

“I wasn’t supposed to, but I couldn’t help it,” Gasso said. “And it is an absolute ‘wow factor’ empty. I can’t even imagine when you get excited Sooners fans in there what this is going to be like. I think we all feel a little anxious about it because we just don’t know what it’s going to play like, what it’s going to feel like. We may not know that until the first pitch.”

For many in the softball world, this isn’t a significant step for the Oklahoma Sooners, but for the sport. It’s another step in growing the game across the country and around the world. And as the Sooners throw the first pitch at the $48 million Love’s Field, it will be a pitch heard around the world.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.