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Oklahoma Gets Back to Blowout Ways with Run-Rule win Over Abilene Christian

Kendall Wells was one of three Sooners to homer as OU extended its winning streak.
Ryan Aber|
Oklahoma pitcher Sydney Berzon throws against Sam Houston.
Oklahoma pitcher Sydney Berzon throws against Sam Houston. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

NORMAN — Patty Gasso was a little disappointed in Oklahoma's performance in its first game Sunday.

After a 9-0, five-inning win over Abilene Christian in the second game, though, Gasso felt a little better about things.

"The second game was a little more like us, a little more energy," Gasso said.

Kendall Wells, Allyssa Parker and Kasidi Pickering each homered as Oklahoma raised its NCAA-leading total to 103 after becoming the fastest team to reach 100 earlier in its 2-1 win over Louisiana.

The second game also saw the third-base debut of Abby Dayton, who threw herself into tryouts at the position late last week after Nelly McEnroe-Marinas suffered a season-ending injury.

"It was fun being on the infield," Dayton said. "I talk a lot, so not the pitchers can hear me."

Sydney Berzon threw 3 2/3 innings, allowing just two hits, with no walks to improve to 3-1. Berzon didn't strike out any hitters but forced three ground-ball double plays before giving way to Kierston Deal.

"Better control and getting strikes early in the count are important," Gasso said of the improvement Berzon showed Sunday. "I thought she was mixing speeds really good. And just inducing groundballs. If you can do that, we'll make plays for you. And so it's just trusting that, believing that we can do that. And she was just feeding us really well. So keeping the ball down and changing speeds. She did a good job staying ahead of counts."

The Sooners (24-2) have won 13 consecutive games, all but two of those by run rule.

Pickering was hit in the head with two outs in the first, taking a few moments at the plate, removing her helmet and pointing to her ear before running to first.

Gasso and a trainer visited Pickering at first before Pickering was allowed to remain in the game.

A moment later, she came all the way around to score on Gabbie Garcia’s double to left center.

Then Wells, OU's freshman phenom, did what she’s done all season — blast a no-doubt home run, this one to right center, going 278 feet to put Oklahoma up 3-0.

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The home run was Wells’ nation-leading 19th of the season.

The Sooners extended their lead to 5-0 in the second on a full-count, two-out, two-run homer to left center by Parker. The 235-foot home run was Parker’s ninth of the season.

Pickering got on the board herself in the third with a leadoff homer to straightaway center for her 10th home run of the season.

Four players now have at least 10 home runs for Oklahoma.

The Sooners added three more runs in the third to push the game into run-rule territory.

Isabela Emerling drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 7-0, then Ailana Agbayani plated two more to make it 9-0.

A day earlier, Gasso had said Dayton could see time at third base after McEnroe-Marinas was lost for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament last weekend.

It didn't take long for the ball to find Dayton.

Infield isn't exactly foreign to Dayton.

Last season, she would often come in to be the fifth infielder when Oklahoma moved on outfielder in when the situation called for it.

After a leadoff single, Abilene Christian's Ari Maxwell hit a hard grounder at Dayton, who gobbled the ball up and quickly fired to second to start a 5-4-3 double play.

Deal threw 1 1/3 shutout innings to end the game, her first scoreless outing in more than a month.

Gasso said Deal's outing was an important one as she works to try to get back in the mix in the circle.

"We know she's better than what she has been showing, and so today was very important," Gasso said. "She looked like the old KD today. And so I'm trusting and hoping that this is her turning point."

After a midweek game against Tulsa, the Sooners will open SEC play at home next weekend against Auburn.

"It's the countdown to the real show," Gasso said. "And we know that and that's why we keep talking about the importance of stepping up our game as that comes to us this next weekend."

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Ryan Aber
RYAN ABER

Ryan Aber has been covering Oklahoma football for more than a decade continuously and since 1999 overall. Ryan was the OU beat writer for The Oklahoman from 2013-2025, covering the transition from Bob Stoops to Lincoln Riley to Brent Venables. He covered OU men's basketball's run to the Final Four in 2016 and numerous national championships for the Sooners' women's gymnastics and softball programs. Prior to taking on the Sooners beat, Ryan covered high schools, the Oklahoma City RedHawks and Oklahoma City Barons for the newspaper from 2006-13. He spent two seasons covering Arkansas football for the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas before returning to his hometown of Oklahoma City. Ryan also worked at the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the Muskogee Phoenix. At the Phoenix, he covered OU's national championship run in 2000. Ryan is a graduate of Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City and Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.

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