Oklahoma Softball: OU Throttles UCF, One Win Away From Returning to the WCWS
NORMAN — Nearly a week of didn’t slow Oklahoma’s offense down one bit.
Days after downing Texas A&M 20-0, the Sooners continued to pour it on, this time trouncing the 16-seeded UCF Knights.
Powered by a five-run second inning, Oklahoma opened Super Regional play with an emphatic 8-0 win Friday at Marita Hynes Field.
“Proud of this team,” Sooner head coach Patty Gasso said after the game. “Proud of the way we came out, scored early and kept applying pressure.”
OU center fielder Jayda Coleman was again the catalyst for the Sooners (53-2), playing a pivotal role in Oklahoma’s fast start.
In the bottom of the first, Coleman’s speed on the base paths put pressure on the UCF (49-13) defense.
Jocelyn Alo appeared to ground into a double play, but Knight second baseman Justene Molina sent throw to second dribbling into left field.
Coleman popped up out of her slide and rounded third to scratch across the first run of the game and ignite the raucous crowd at Marita Hynes Field.
Even though the damage was limited to just one run, Gasso said scoring early was crucial in keeping the pressure on the Knights.
“Scoring first is always your goal,” she said. “… Even if it’s one run, it just does set a tone for the team.”
In the second inning, Coleman was able to keep the momentum rolling.
Stepping back into the batter’s box with the bases loaded and two outs, Coleman accounted for some RBIs of her own.
The Sooner sophomore dropped a hit into shallow center field, driving in a pair of runs and landing in safely for a double.
“Jayda has been a spark for this lineup in the one spot,” Alo said after the game. “… She’s just this firecracker, sparkler of a person… She’ll get a walk and she’s hyped. She’ll get a base hit, beat it out and she’s hyped.
“… So it’s been really nice to hit behind her and also have Tiare (Jennings) begins me so I know that if I don’t have it that day, that anyone else in this lineup will pick me up. “
In her second at-bat, Alo made sure the UCF defense would have no play on the ball.
College softball’s Home Run Queen obliterated Gianna Mancha’s offering, launching a towering home run well beyond the bleachers in center field. The three-run shot put the Sooners up 6-0, effectively ending the contest before it really got going.
“I was just looking for something hard to hit,” Alo said of her approach ahead of the home run. “Jayda came up clutch before that, and I don’t like to be the last out of the inning. So I didn’t want to be the last out.”
But Gasso’s team didn’t let their foot off the gas.
A sacrifice fly from Kinzie Hansen and a double from Jana Johns extended the lead to 8-0 in the third inning, putting the game in run rule territory.
The run support was superfluous, as right-handed pitcher Hope Trautwein pitched OU’s eighth no-hitter of the season.
Hope Trautwein pitched her fourth career no-hitter on Friday afternoon, blanking the UCF Knights in Game 1 of Oklahoma's Super Regional
Sarah Phipps / The Oklahoman-USA Today Network
“(Trautwein showed) control, command of the mound,” Gasso said. “Hope doesn’t need strikeouts. She got a few, but nobody really squared her up real hard. So proud of that.”
Looking unbothered by the heat, Trautwein did come up with a pair of strikeouts, allowing three walks and one hit by pitch in five innings of work.
“Control is something that I’m really working on,” Trautwein said. “… The heat is what it is. We practice in this. We’ve been playing in this for the last couple of weeks, so I’m learning to adapt and cool myself off.”
The performance was Trautwein’s second complete game no-hitter of the season.
Oklahoma can officially punch its ticket back to the Women’s College World Series on Saturday against UCF. The Sooners will host the Knights at 1 p.m. Saturday, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
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