Oklahoma run-rules Texas again
NORMAN — Agitated by a low power rating and motivated to prove their dominance is no fluke, Oklahoma remained merciless against Texas.
The No. 1-ranked Sooners — only 16th in this week’s Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) — hammered the No. 7 Longhorns for the second game in a row on Saturday, this time with a 10-2 victory at Marita Hynes Field.
“They’re on a mission,” said coach Patty Gasso. “You can feel that.”
OU mashed Texas 11-1 in Friday’s series opener, and Saturday, it was 6- and 7-hole hitters Lynnsie Elam and Taylon Snow who delivered the biggest offensive pop with three hits apiece. Elam finished with three RBIs, and Snow had two.
Gasso said it “might be” human nature in softball to relax when a pitcher gets past the likes of Tiare Jennings, Jocelyn Alo, Kinzie Hansen, Grace Lyons and Jayda Coleman.
“Because when you're growing up and you're playing travel ball and so forth, you load the top of the lineup and then you think … ‘Oh, you're 7-8-9.’ Well our 7-8-9 could be a 1-2-3-4 at lot of programs. So, that's what makes it tough. You just can't take a break. You can't miss a pitch.”
The Sooners won their 39th in a row, which ranks second in school history and third all-time, putting this OU team ahead of South Carolina’s 1997 run of 38 straight.
Of Oklahoma's 32 games this season, 24 have ended in run-rule fashion. The Sooners remain hungry in spite of their unrelenting success, Gasso said.
“They're not sitting back going, ‘Well look at look at our record. Look at our ranking,’ ” Gasso said. “To them, it just doesn't mean anything, it's just, they love playing good softball.”
Much like Friday’s game, Saturday’s was all but over early.
In the first inning, OU jumped to a quick 4-0 lead when Hansen’s double scored Jennings, Coleman’s double brought home Hansen, Elam singled home Lyons and Snow plated Coleman with a bunt single.
Texas’ Janae Jefferson hit a controversial solo home run off Shannon Saile in the third inning. Replay reviews showed the ball glanced off the top of the left field wall and back into the field of play, where it was caught in the air by Alo (not an out). It should have been a double as Jefferson stopped at second base while Alo's throw came into the infield, but umpires quickly ruled it a home run that cut OU’s lead to 4-1.
Elam blasted her fifth home run of the season in the third inning, putting the Sooners up 6-1 with a mash to left field that scored Lyons, and Jennings ripped a solo shot — her 19th of the year — to left to make it 7-1.
In the fifth inning, Texas’ Shannon Rhodes slammed a one-out solo home run off Saile to straightaway center. Saile had only allowed one home run — and nine hits total — all season before Saturday.
Saile struggled with her control, walking six Longhorn batters (she also struck out six), but got out of more fifth-inning trouble by striking out McKenzie Parker with two out and runners on first and second.
Elam led off the bottom of the fifth with a first-pitch double to the warning track in right. Snow then brought her home with a bouncing single through the right side for an 8-2 OU lead.
Jennings’ sacrifice fly with nobody out scored Snow and put the Sooners ahead 9-2.
With first base open and one out, Texas intentionally walked Alo and got a popup from Hansen, but Lyons ended it with an RBI single in front of the center fielder that scored Jana Johns to make it 10-2.
Friday’s game ended with an emphatic three-run home run. This one ended with a bloop hit.
But style doesn’t matter to Gasso and her team.
“Heart,” said Gasso, “is knowing that we've got to continue to prove what we're doing. … It's not us against Texas, it's ‘How good can we be today?’ That's really the focus with this team.”