Oklahoma Softball: Sooners Leave Hawaii with Another Run-Rule Victory

Perhaps inspired by their home run queen, No. 1-ranked OU uncorked one long ball after another against the Rainbow Wahine to improve to 20-0 on the season.

Jocelyn Alo continues to inspire — not just young girls across the Hawaiian Islands, but those in her own dugout as well.

A day after Alo set the NCAA record for home runs with her 96th career blast, Alo’s Oklahoma teammates launched four long balls of their own against Hawaii in their final game of the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu.

No. 1-ranked OU ran its record to 20-0 behind a 9-0 victory over the Rainbow Wahine.

While two pitchers combined on a  5-inning no-hitter, the lineup was powered by the long ball. 

Freshman catcher Sophia Nugent — making her first career start — hammered a two-run shot to center field that gave OU a 3-0 lead in the second inning.

Nugent’s first career home run scored fellow freshman Jordy Bahl — playing left field on this idyllic sunny island day — and came not long after first baseman Lynnsie Elam ignited the scoring with a leadoff homer, her third of the season.

OU scored its fourth run via small ball: Alyssa Brito walked and stole second, and scored easily on Rylie Boone’s bouncing single past the first base bag.

It was Alo who made it 5-0 with an RBI single she smashed into left field to score Boone. Alo is now batting .532 on the season, .647 with runners in scoring position.

Grace Lyons followed that with a towering blast off the netting in straightaway center field — Lyons’ sixth of the season — that scored Alo and Tiare Jennings. That long ball put the Sooners up 8-0 and extended Lyons’ hitting streak to 17 games.

One batter later, Taylon Snow lifted a solo homer just over the wall in left field, her third in 2022, for a 9-0 Oklahoma lead.

Nicole May (7-0) started in the circle and pitched three scoreless innings. She faced 11 batters, struck out three, walked one and didn’t allow a hit.

Bahl shifted from outfield to pitcher to start the fourth inning and continued her dominant season by striking out three straight hitters after a leadoff error. She finished with four strikeouts and didn't give up a hit or a walk.

The Sooners return to Oklahoma for five games next weekend in the Hall of Fame Classic in Oklahoma City. OU plays Sam Houston State and Indiana on Friday, San Diego and Houston on Saturday, and Iowa on Sunday, before a midweek road trip to Kentucky on March 22.