Oklahoma Overpowers Wichita State in Wild Regional Final

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s path to victory Sunday was anything but ordinary.

After giving up four runs in the first inning, the Sooners slugged their way to a 24-7 win over the Wichita State Shockers at Marita Hynes Field.

With a place in next weekend’s Super Regionals on the line, the Shockers were going to have to beat the Sooners twice to pull the upset.

Playing with a mulligan in her back pocket, Patty Gasso handed the ball to neither Giselle Juarez, Shannon Saile or Nicole May in the circle. Instead she started Olivia Rains.

Entering Sunday’s action, Rains had yet to allow a run this season, pitching 16 1/3 innings on the year.

In her most pressure-filled appearance of the season, Rains allowed three runs to score in the bottom of the first, only recording one out.

Then again instead of turning to May, OU’s de facto reliever down the home stretch of the regular season, Gasso called upon Alanna Thiede, who had only seen action in eight games all year long. Thiede allowed another run to score, only recording an out off of Jayda Coleman’s left arm when she threw a laser from center field to throw out Bailee Nickerson at home.

“That was kind of the game plan,” Gasso said in a Zoom press conference after the game. “Olivia Rains has some good stuff, and she showed that when she only threw a couple batters against Morgan State, but her stuff could work well against the Wichita State hitters. Might have been a little unfair to put her in a big environment, but everybody needs experience at one time or another to know what it feels like.”

Gasso said the plan was never to allow the Shockers to get more than about a four run lead if things didn’t work out, and that’s when she again made the call to the pen. Once May was brought in, she got the Sooners out of the inning and settled the game.

Oklahoma’s lineup provided plenty of run support for the pitching staff, and they wasted no time striking back.

Bringing 14 batters to the plate in the top of the second inning, OU immediately grabbed all of the momentum and scored eight runs to double up the Shockers.

Nicole Mendes and Tiare Jennings led the charge, both driving in a pair of runs each to tie the game up. Kinzie Hansen’s RBI single paired with a wild pitch to score Jocelyn Alo made up the bulk of the Sooner rally, scoring six straight runs after Grace Lyons popped up to start the inning.

Gasso said the team never panicked after the first inning, and she told them that there was still plenty of game ahead.

“The message was, this is the first inning really, and the this is about a race. It's a race where they took the lead, but the finish line is still way, way out there,” Gasso said. “And they understood that they did a really nice job to answer. I mean, eight runs is quite a feat against (Wichita State) that quickly.

“There was a lot of fight ready from this team. They knew what was at stake.”

Two innings later, Jennings returned to push the game into run rule territory. Launching a three-run bomb over the fence in right-center field, the freshman put Oklahoma up 14-5.

Jennings’ home run drove in her third, fourth and fifth RBIs of the day. Adding a sixth RBI in the seventh inning, the freshman was the fifth different Sooner to record at least four RBIs for the regional after Mendes’ seven against Morgan State and Lynnsie Elam’s four against Wichita State on Saturday.

Lyons said getting off to a hot start was a big goal for the Sooners this weekend.

“It's just super important to start that now. And as we get closer to the end goal, we want to make sure that we have this rhythm and have the power that we've had all year,” Lyons said after the game. “I think all of us were very just aggressive and wanting to put another statement out there that yes, you can (take the lead) on us, we're gonna punch back even harder.”

Oklahoma put the cherry on top of their eleventh straight regional title with a 10-run seventh inning.

Taylon Snow, Lyons and Elam all homered before Riley Boone stepped in for a pinch-hit grand slam to close the weekend in style.

With the offensive explosion, the Sooners set yet another offensive record. OU’s 50 runs scored for the weekend is an NCAA record for a single regional, a mark they set in just three games.

Oklahoma now awaits the winner of 16-seeded Washington and Michigan out of the Seattle Regional to learn who their opponent in next weekend’s Super Regional will be.

Lyons said she was pleased with how the team got the job done in the minimum number of games, and that it will allow them to enter next weekend’s Super Regional as well rested as they can be.

“We want to make sure that we're as fresh as we can be in any game that we play,” she said. “We’re making a statement to the entire world that we can shut it down in three games and not have to go into any more.

“But it's super fun to see just how aggressive we are and just how important it is to take the motivation from our coaches and just get it done.”

The schedule for the Super Regional has not been set, but all of the games will take place at Marita Hynes Field.