OU Softball: Oklahoma Notches Another Win Over Texas to Capture Big 12 Championship
OKLAHOMA CITY — Alyssa Brito at Hall of Fame Stadium continues to be a perfect match.
The Oklahoma third baseman has shown out in college softball’s biggest venue, and she came up clutch again in Saturday’s Big 12 Tournament Championship.
Brito doubled to the wall in the fourth inning, driving in Haley Lee to put the Sooners in front.
From there, Patty Gasso’s team didn’t look back, beating the Longhorns 6-1 to win the title.
Not only did the Sooners add another trophy to their 2023 haul on Saturday, but OU extended its winning streak to 43 games, closing in on the 47-game record set by Arizona in 1996-1997.
The win was also Oklahoma’s fourth of the year over Texas, as the Sooners will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 51-1 overall record.
Mike White’s Texas squad dropped 42-13-1, and the No. 10-ranked Longhorns will now wait and see if the NCAA Tournament selection committee rewards their season with a top eight seed on Selection Sunday.
"Just a really complete game today. On the mound, at the plate," Gasso said. "... I really loved our 5-6-7-8-9 (hitters), they did a good job of coming in and getting some really timely hits. So just a really clean game. We played really well."
Both pitchers, Oklahoma’s Nicole May and Texas’ Citlaly Gutierrez, started strong in the circle.
Each offense stranded a runner in the first inning, and May cooly worked around a pair of Longhorn baserunners in the second inning.
But Lee broke through the pitcher’s duel in the second inning.
Leading off the frame, Lee blasted the 1-1 delivery over the fence, just as she did when the two teams met at Hall of Fame Stadium on March 31.
After a quiet first inning, Lee leaned on what her teammates saw out of Gutierrez to step into the box with the right approach.
"I kind of talked to the hitters," Lee said, "and they said, 'hey, she's throwing this first pitch, get after it.'
"So I was looking for that and put a good swing on it. But without them it's kind of hard to find and choose what you're going to pick in the end. But it was exciting."
The solo shot was Lee’s 13th home run of the year, which only trails Jayda Coleman’s 14 home runs for the team lead.
May and Gutierrez to dominance in the third inning, but Texas struck back in the fourth.
Longhorn shortstop Viviana Martinez matched Lee’s effort, launching a bases-empty bomb of her own over Alynah Torres’ head in right field.
The effort tied the game at 1-1, and it was only the fifth home run May had conceded in 2023.
Finally in the fourth, Oklahoma’s offense put the pressure on Gutierrez.
A one-out single from Lee made way for Brito’s RBI-double to put the Sooners back on top.
As Texas threw home to try and tag out Lee, Brito also slid down to third base, which proved to be crucial.
Facing Torres, Gutierrez send a pitch too high for catcher Reese Atwood to handle, and Brito raced down to steal home and extend the lead to 3-1.
Torres ended up walking, and Gasso called upon Jordy Bahl to pinch run.
Bahl swiped second, and then got a great jump off of Rylie Boone’s single, allowing Bahl to round third base and score.
Up 4-1 headed into the fifth inning, Gasso kept Bahl in the game to replace May in the circle.
OU’s dominant right-hander was her usual self on the mound, but she helped her own cause at the plate in the sixth.
Bahl connected on a one-out single to plate a run, and she ended all the way up at third after taking advantage of the Texas defense throwing behind the play.
In the next at-bat, catcher Kinzie Hansen grounded out to the left side, but Bahl watch the throw over to first. As soon as Texas’ Mia Scott decided to throw over to get Hansen out, Bahl bolted toward home and slid under the tag to put the Sooners up 6-1.
"I saw the ground ball took the third baseman more toward shortstop a little bit," Bahl said after the game. "So I got kind of a bigger lead because no one was really at third and then when she threw it, I went home."
Insurance runs in hand, Bahl then closed out the game in the circle for Gasso.
Lee finished a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate, drawing a walk in her only other plate appearance to cap off her stellar performance.
Across both of Oklahoma's games at the Big 12 Tournament, Lee finished 4-for-5, and she was voted the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
"It was exciting. First time in the Big 12 Tournament," Lee said, "so it was a pretty exciting moment for me just getting to see everybody contribute and get to swing the bat hard and our pitchers shutting down teams, that's exciting.
"That's something you are ready to get behind and just keep fighting for. In the end, everything kind of worked out."
With both the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles in hand, the Sooners now turn their attention to the NCAA Tournament, where it is expected that they’ll be named the No. 1-overall seed.
Oklahoma will learn who it will face in the Norman Regional during Sunday’s selection show. Coverage will begin at 6 p.m. on ESPN2, as the entire NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed.
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