Oklahoma Blasts Past Southern Louisiana to Close Opening Weekend at Love's Field

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s bats stayed hot to close out a perfect weekend at Love’s Field.

The Sooners blasted five home runs to dispatch Southeastern Louisiana 9-1 in five innings.

All six games OU played this weekend were run-rule victories, and Oklahoma improved to 19-2 on the year.

"That was a tough game. Appreciate Southeastern coming this way," OU coach Patty Gasso said after the win. "They came from Texas and they had kind of been on the road. They challenged us. You could feel it. You could feel the intensity between both teams.

"... Thought our middle made some really good plays. Offense just attacked early. Just a really complete game by us."

Kai Minor, Ella Parker, Gabbie Garcia (twice) and Sydney Barker all hit the ball over the fence, but a squeeze bunt almost gave the Sooners their first lead of the game in the first.

Garcia laid down a nice bunt that dribbled toward first, but Southeastern Louisiana made a nice play to throw out Kasidi Pickering at the plate and keep the game scoreless.

Minor put an end to that with a leadoff bomb in the second, however.

The freshman’s deep shot was followed by back-to-back singles from Ailana Agbayani and Nelly McEnroe-Marinas, then Parker belted a 257-foot home run into the right field bleachers.

First baseman Brilee Ford pulled one back for the visitors with a leadoff shot in the top of the third, but it was quickly followed by a scary moment.

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Shelby Morris tried to lay down a two-out bunt, but she popped it up into the teeth of the OU defense.

Catcher Kendall Wells moved to make the catch, but she collided with a charging McEnroe-Marinas. Wells was able to hold on to make the third out of the inning, but McEnroe-Marinas had to sit down in foul territory and receive attention from the OU training staff.

McEnroe-Marinas was able to walk back to the dugout under her own power, but she was replaced in the lineup by Barker and did not return for the rest of the contest.

"We’re just kind of waiting on Nelly," Gasso said. "We’re not quite sure what it is. Something happened with that knee. I think people could see that with what happened. We’re having to wait to get some X-rays and go from there. So obviously, Nelly is anxious and emotional over it.

Garcia quickly lifted the spirits at Love’s Field with a leadoff blast, then three batters later Barker extended the lead to 7-1 with a two-run shot of her own.

Audrey Lowry, who got the start, struck out a pair of batters in the top of the fifth to bring her total to six for the day. Lowry allowed just two hits and gave up no walks in a nice Sunday outing with conference play looming in a couple of weekends.

"I was really, really pleased with Audrey's performance," Gasso said. "I think it lined up with their batting order."

Dayton ended the game with a single in the bottom of the fifth to plate Agbayani.

The Sooners will be back in action on Tuesday in Denton, TX, to take on North Texas at 6 p.m.