OU Softball: Oklahoma Needs 'Tough' Showing Against Texas Tech to Extend Big 12 Lead
After a couple of weeks at home, the Big 12 grind once again forces Oklahoma to hit the road.
Patty Gasso’s No. 1-ranked Sooners dispatched of Iowa State last weekend, opening up a one-game lead atop the league.
This weekend, OU (24-1, 3-0 Big 12) will battle dust, wind, cold temperatures and opposing fans as the Sooners roll into Lubbock to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders (21-5, 2-1) for the final time before heading to the Southeastern Conference in 2025.
Texas Tech’s bats are again formidable under second-year coach Craig Snider, power that was on full display in last week’s conference opener.
How to Watch Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech
- Game 1: Friday, 6 p.m., ESPN+
- Game 2: Saturday, 1 p.m., ESPN+
- Game 3: Sunday, 12 p.m., ESPN+
The Red Raiders scored 33 runs in three games in Provo against BYU, but faulty pitching cost Texas Tech a sweep last Sunday.
Through 26 games, the Red Raiders have blasted 35 home runs which is 11th in the country, and Texas Tech’s .326 team batting average ranks No. 30 overall.
“Texas Tech is tough,” OU coach Patty Gasso said on Tuesday. “They’ve got a very nice record. They swing. And it’s a tough place to play.”
Oklahoma’s pitching staff is equipped to slow down the Red Raiders — especially with the run that Kelly Maxwell and Kierston Deal are currently enjoying.
Maxwell shut out Iowa State in OU’s first Big 12 game of the season, firing eight strikeouts in a complete seven-inning outing. She followed that up with the team’s first no-hitter of the year against Tarleton State on Tuesday, an outing that was a first-inning error away from ending as a perfect game.
“It’s feeling good,” Maxwell said Tuesday. “I feel like I’ve worked really hard with (pitching) Coach (Jennifer) Rocha lately. I’m really trying to nail down her philosophy and I think it’s kind of showing.
“It’s getting easy, kind of learning what she’s taught. So it’s just cool to see kind of everything fall into place.”
Maxwell enters the weekend fourth in the Big 12 in opponent batting average, holding hitters to .172 on the year.
She’s not alone, however.
Deal, the sophomore left hander, has enjoyed plenty of success since a rocky opening weekend.
She hasn’t allowed a run since her start against Long Beach State in the fourth game of the year, a scoreless streak spanning 22 innings.
Oklahoma sophomore Kierston Deal hasn't allowed a run since OU's opening weekend in 2024.
Bryan Terry / The Oklahoman-USA Today Network
Deal ranks fourth in the conference with a 0.85 ERA.
Senior Nicole May is also familiar with Texas Tech’s lineup, as she helped the Sooners quiet the bats in OU’s sweep over the Red Raiders a year ago in Norman.
Texas Tech’s biggest challenge will be limiting Oklahoma’s offense, however.
OU first baseman Cydney Sanders is the hottest player in the country, smashing eight home runs already in March.
The reigning Big 12 and National Player of the Week blasted another pair of long balls on Tuesday in two games against Tarleton State, and she’s now tied for fifth in the country with 10 home runs.
Sanders has plenty of help, too.
Ella Parker, Alyssa Brito, Kasidi Pickering, Rylie Boone, Riley Ludlam and Jayda Coleman are all hitting over .400, with Tiare Jennings falling just below that mark at .397 for the year.
Brito and Jennings have also belted seven home runs apiece, while catcher Kinzie Hansen has six on the year and Parker has hit five bombs.
Four different Sooners have contributed more than 22 RBIs in 2024, and nine batters have driven in at least 13 runs, rounding out a potent and balanced attack.
Texas Tech formulated a unique strategy to try and limit OU’s attack last year.
In the series opener, the Red Raiders threw a different pitcher every inning. Though they didn’t win, it did appear to bother Oklahoma, though the Sooners proved that strategy to be a momentary blip over the remainder of the season.
Whatever tricks Snider may have up his sleeve this weekend, Gasso knows her team will be in for a battle in a hostile environment — the first true road test in conference play for OU this year.
“They’ve got a good fan base,” Gasso said. “They’ve got a very good coach. They’re very confident. And they’ve been swinging well, scoring lots of runs. So it’s definitely one of the tougher places to play, maybe not exactly because of the fans but more because of the environment and the wind and the temps.
“And I think we’re walking into some of that this weekend. We have to be tough. We have to be tough athletes this weekend.”
The series between Oklahoma and Texas Tech will open at 6 p.m. on Friday, and the games all weekend will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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