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OU Softball: Bahl, Oklahoma Fly Over KU

The Sooners got another dominant outing from Jordy Bahl, blasted three home runs in one inning and even enjoyed a pregame flyover to inch closer to another crown.
John E. Hoover|
OU Softball: Bahl, Oklahoma Fly Over KU
OU Softball: Bahl, Oklahoma Fly Over KU

Pomp and circumstance appropriately filled the air at Marita Hynes Field on Friday — and then the Oklahoma batting order did the same with softballs.

Celebrating Senior Weekend, another impending conference championship and an almost incomprehensible winning streak, the Sooners took things to another level with a pregame AWACS flyover from nearby Tinker Air Force Base.

The No. 1-ranked team in the nation then got another dominating pitching performance from sophomore Jordy Bahl and blasted three straight home runs in the second inning to beat Kansas 8-0.

Bahl added a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to provide the run-rule margin.

OU improved to 43-1 on the season and has now won 35 games in a row. KU fell to 22-22.

The Sooners and Jayhawks meet twice more this weekend, with Saturday’s game set for 2 p.m. and Sunday’s finale at 1. Both games can be seen on ESPN+.

Oklahoma can clinch at least share of the 2023 Big 12 Conference regular season title with a win on Saturday. If OU sweeps KU, the Sooners would win the conference crown outright, their 11th consecutive regular season league championship.

OU has won 52 consecutive Big 12 series, a streak that dates back to 2011.

It was Oklahoma’s fourth straight shutout and seventh in a row in conference play. OU hasn’t been scored on since April 15 against Miami (OH), and hasn’t yielded a run in a Big 12 game since April 2 against Texas.

Following a quiet first inning, the Sooners exploded offensively in the second with three straight homers.

Cydney Sanders drew a walk and came home when senior Grace Lyons slipped her sixth home run this year just inside the left field foul pole.

Alyssa Brito then mashed a solo bomb to straightaway center field for a 3-0 lead. It was her 11th home run of the season.

Kinzie Hansen then flexed on the Jayhawks with a solo shot to right center — her ninth of the year — to put the Sooners up 4-0.

It was the fourth time this season OU has hit at least three homers in an inning.

Kansas’ bats had little hope of a comeback against another overpowering performance from Bahl. Bahl struck out six of the first nine Jayhawks she faced.

Bahl improved to 14-1 on the season and 6-0 in Big 12 play. She allowed four singles in five innings but didn’t yield any walks and struck out seven.

The Sooners loaded the bases in the third inning but couldn’t get a run across.

That changed in the fourth, however, when Jayda Coleman went opposite field with a two-out, solo home run that built the Sooners’ lead to 5-0.

Oklahoma’s defense also had opportunities to shine on a cool, windy day. The Sooners ended the top of the fourth inning with a 5-4-3 double play, and after Bahl got the first out of the fifth with a slick glove stop, Rylie Boone got the second out with a diving, backhanded catch on the warning track in left field. Bahl then ended KU’s scoring threat with her seventh strikeout.

The Sooners added to the lead in the fifth when Lyons drew a two-out walk, moved to second on Brito’s single to left and came home on Hansen’s single to left for a 6-0 advantage.

Lyons, Brito and Hansen each had two hits, and Bahl, Hansen and Lyons each had two RBIs.

After the KU series, OU wraps up the regular season next week with a Tuesday game at Tulsa and a three-game conference series at Oklahoma State.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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