OU Softball: Oklahoma Looking to Carry Momentum Into Bulldog Invitational

A four-game home stint was all Oklahoma got last weekend before hitting the road once again.

Patty Gasso’s top-ranked Sooners dispatched of Illinois-Chicago and No. 16 Kentucky twice apiece at the OU Tournament, winning all four games by a combined score of 39-1.

The centerpiece of the weekend was Oklahoma’s Friday night domination of Kentucky, putting up 11 runs in the fourth inning to run-rule the Wildcats 18-0.

If notching two wins against a future conference foe wasn’t enough, Oklahoma will now hit the road and head to SEC country to reunite with a familiar face.

How to Watch the Bulldog Invitational:

Friday: OU vs. Southeastern Louisiana, 12:30 p.m., SoonerSports.tv

Friday: OU vs. Mississippi State, 6:00 p.m., SEC Network+

Saturday: OU vs. Mississippi State, 3:00 p.m., SEC Network

Sunday: OU vs. Omaha, 10:30 a.m., SoonersSports.tv

Mississippi State, led by former Sooner Samatha Ricketts, will play host to OU, Southeastern Louisiana and Omaha at the Bulldog Invitational in Starkville.

The weekend will start against Southeastern Louisiana at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, and will continue with OU’s first matchup of the event against Mississippi State at 6 p.m. later that evening.

Oklahoma will follow up with another contest against the Bulldogs on Saturday at 3 p.m., and round out the weekend against Omaha on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

The Sooners have played Mississippi State five times previously, with OU winning all of those games, including wins in each of the last two seasons.

Gasso is excited to face off against her former pupil, as she’s seen Ricketts grow leaps and bounds since she first stepped on campus in Norman.

“When she came to OU on a visit, she would not say a word,” Gasso said on Wednesday. “I mean, they were one word answers. She would be the girl that would look all around you but never at you. I am looking right at her and she’s looking around me.

“… To see her now running her own program, being a leader, being a woman who is trying to empower her players is just a whole other level of wow.

“So I truly watched this girl come in as a girl and turn into a woman, who turned into a leader, who is turning into an elite-style coach. Yeah, it’s thrilling for me. It’s exciting.”

Once the Sooners take the field, however, Gasso is looking for her team to continue to produce at a high level.

Oklahoma played below expectations last Friday in the team’s 5-0 win over Illinois-Chicago, but the Sooners rebounded in impressive fashion the rest of the weekend.

Now 18 games into the season, Gasso said she’s been able to find some answers with the batting lineup while having to juggle so many different faces in and out of the order from game to game.

“I’m finding what I think some (players) are just regular, everyday whether you’re a good matchup or not you need to be in this lineup,” Gasso said. “And then we have found others that fit better in certain situations. So we’ll create maybe two or three lineups and we will wait to see what pitcher is going to be thrown and that is the lineup that we’ll use.”

Familiar faces have found their way to the top of the team in batting average, including Jayda Coleman (.455), Rylie Boone (.455) and Tiare Jennings (.438).

But true freshman Jocelyn Erickson has proven to be indispensable.

Erickson ranks third in the country with a .568 batting average, and is tied with Coleman atop OU’s home run charts with five bombs already this year.

“She has become a staple in this lineup,” Gasso said, “and I would feel a void if she wasn’t in the lineup even if (the pitching matchup) doesn’t favor her.”

The versatility throughout the starting lineup will help, especially if captain shortstop Grace Lyons is unable to give it a go this weekend.

Lyons missed both Saturday games at the OU Tournament, and Gasso was non-committal on if she’ll take the field for the Sooners at the Bulldog Invitational.

“It’s going to be like a last-minute decision on this,” Gasso said. “I just need her to feel better. She’s just not feeling herself. We’ll wait and see. She needs more rest, rest, rest.”

Regardless of who starts, the Sooners will take the field against Southeastern Louisiana on Friday at 12:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast free of charge at SoonerSports.tv.

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