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Isabela Emerling's Pinch-Hit Grand Slam Lifts Oklahoma Over Ole Miss to Sweep Series

Isabela Emerling needed just one pitch in the sixth inning to flip the momentum and deliver OU the win over the Rebels.
Ryan Chapman|
Oklahoma senior Isabela Emerling put the Sooners in front in the top of the sixth with a grand slam.
Oklahoma senior Isabela Emerling put the Sooners in front in the top of the sixth with a grand slam. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Isabela Emerling had to wait her turn, but her patience was rewarded on Monday night. 

The OU senior started the series finale against Ole Miss on the bench, but with the Sooners trailing 2-1 in the sixth and the bases loaded, Patty Gasso called upon the veteran to change the game. 

It took Emerling one pitch. 

She connected on the first delivery from former Oklahoma State pitcher Kyra Aycock, hammering a towering grand slam well beyond the fence in left field. Gabbie Garcia, who watched on from second base, threw her arms over her head the second the ball came off Emerling’s bat, and the life immediately evaporated from the Ole Miss dugout. 

The 5-2 lead marked OU’s first of the day, and the Sooners refused to let the hosts back in the game. 

Emerling’s bomb undid what was shaping up to be a great outing for Aycock. She had allowed four hits and struck out six Sooners before the grand slam, but Emerling punished her biggest mistake of the night. 

On the other side, Gasso went with Sydney Berzon to start, and the LSU transfer put in her best shift of the year. She threw a season-high 57 pitches and retired the final seven batters she faced. 

Sophomore Audrey Lowry came in for Berzon and wriggled out of a pair of dicey situations to close out the 5-2 victory. 

Final Box Score
Final Box Score | OU Stats

The No. 6 Sooners improved to 32-2 on the year and 6-0 in SEC play, while Ole Miss fell to 20-14 overall and 0-9 in conference action.

Emerling delivered dramatics in the sixth because the Sooners fell behind early.

Berzon allowed a double to start the second, but it was her defense that ultimately let her down. 

With two away, Rebel left fielder Laylonna Applin hit the ball toward Allyssa Parker at first, and the Sooners suffered an uncharacteristic hiccup. 

First, Parker bobbled the grounder, but then she had a miscommunication with second baseman Ailana Agbayani, who was there to back Parker up, and as Agbayani tried to sling the ball over to the bag underhand, Parker never repositioned to cover the base and the ball instead rolled past the base and toward OU’s dugout. 

The chaos allowed Ole Miss to score the first run of the game, and the Sooners were charged with a pair of errors for the same play. 

Then Ryan Starr singled off Berzon’s knee, and an uncontested stolen base put a pair of runners in scoring position. 

Taylor Malvin doubled the lead with a single through the right side, but Ella Parker was able to save a run with a perfect throw from right field to Kendall Wells at the plate, and the Sooners escaped the second with a two-run deficit. 

Berzon almost hurt her cause in the third. 

She hit the first batter of the inning, a baserunner that eventually advanced to third, but Berzon induced a popout to end the threat. 

OU’s offense put a runner aboard in each of the first three innings, but it didn’t break through until the fourth. 

Wells crushed her nation-leading 25th homer, a 277-foot shot to right, to pull the Sooners within a run. 

Kai Minor tried to build on the homer by drawing a one-out walk, but Oklahoma was unable to tie the game in the top of the fourth. 

Berzon recorded the first out of the fifth inning before Gasso turned to Lowry.

The senior put in 4 1/3 innings of work. She allowed three hits, and both of the Rebels’ runs were unearned. Berzon also struck out three batters and walked none, though she did hit one batter. 

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Lowry allowed a pair of runners with a hit batter and a walk, but she battled back to ring up a strikeout to end the sixth and pass the baton to the top of OU’s lineup in the sixth. 

Ella Parker led the inning off with a single, then after Wells struck out, Gabbie Garcia laid down a bunt for a single. A bobble on a grounder to first base allowed Minor to load the bases, then Gasso replaced Allyssa Parker with Emerling in the coaching move of the weekend. 

The grand slam was Emerling’s 11th home run of the year, which is three shy of a career-high. 

Ole Miss had a chance to immediately respond in the bottom half of the sixth. 

A pair of singles and a fielding error at second loaded the bases with one out, but Lowry dealt back-to-back strikeouts to keep the three-run lead intact entering the seventh. 

Lowry added another strikeout to bring her total for the night to five to help seal the OU's 21st win in a row.

The Sooners will be back on the road this weekend. 

OU travels to Baton Rouge to take on Berzon’s old squad, LSU, in a three-game series starting on Friday. 

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is co-publisher at Sooners On SI and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK. 

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