OU Softball: Oklahoma Overpowers BYU to Advance to Big 12 Tournament Championship

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma fell short of winning the Big 12 regular season title, but the Sooners will have a chance to take home the tournament title.

OU freshmen Kasidi Pickering and Ella Parker both tallied three RBIs to power OU past BYU in the first semifinal on Friday at Devon Park, formerly Hall of Fame Stadium, in Oklahoma City.

Sophomore left-hander Kierston Deal matched her offense and fell one out short of her second no-hitter to round out a complete performance that saw the No. 4-ranked Sooners down the Cougars 13-2 in five innings.

The Sooners (48-6) now await the winner of No. 1 Texas and Baylor for tomorrow’s title game. BYU (31-23) will head back to Provo and await its NCAA Tournament fate, which will be announced on Sunday.

"Well-pitched, well-played," OU coach Patty Gasso said after the game, "great offense, lot of hustling plays on the base paths, attacking, aggressive, strong. Everything that used to describe us is coming back.

Patty Gasso’s talented freshmen who got OU started on Friday.

Parker, facing a full count, rocketed a solo home run to open the scoring, then the Sooners strung together a few nice at-bats.

Tiare Jennings walked and Alyssa Brito singled, then both runners to 60 extra feet when Kinzie Hansen grounded out to the right side.

Pickering stepped up and had to take a pair of looping changeups for strikes before she made contact with a pitch out of the zone and singled through the left side to plate a pair and put OU up 3-0 headed into the second inning.

Brito again got aboard with an infield single in the third inning after she hit the ball off BYU pitcher Gianna Mares’ left foot. The Cougars then overthrew first, allowing Brito to take second.

The extra base allowed Brito to score after a pitching change, as Hansen welcomed BYU right-hander Kate Dahle into the game with a single through the right side.

Hansen stole second, and Pickering added to her nice performance with an RBI-single to put the Sooners on top 5-0 headed into the fourth inning.

Parker did more damage in the fourth.

She rifled a single to plate Avery Hodge, extending the lead to six.

Jennings then drew a walk to load the bases with no outs for Brito.

With the count at 3-1, Brito unleashed a massive home run swing, but missed the ball for strike two. The crowd quickly exhaled after the swing, recognizing they were moments away from potentially seeing a grand slam, but Brito locked back in and brought a pair of runners home with a single.

Hansen added another run with a single of her own, putting the Sooners on top 9-0 and bringing the run-rule into effect.

Hannah Coor chipped in an RBI-single of her own, and Hodge plated the sixth and final OU run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to give the Sooners an 11-0 advantage.

Oklahoma scored another run on an error, and Parker doubled to extend the lead to 13-0.

Jennings struck out to end the eight-run outburst in the fourth that saw OU send 13 batters to the plate.

Gasso sent Deal back into the circle in the fifth to continue the no-hitter.

Deal nearly closed it out, surrendering a soft flare to Lexie Bennett with two outs. Quincee Lilio did everything she could in right field, laying out to try and make the out, but the ball ultimately fell into the grass.

BYU tried to salvage something from the game as Hailey Marrow hit a two-run shot in the next at-bat, the only real blemish on an otherwise excellent outing from Deal.

"She really looked confident," Gasso said of Deal. "She did a good job of getting ahead and keeping them off balance."

She allowed two walks and hit a batter, but struck out five Cougars before the back-to-back hits.

The outing was important for deal to put Bedlam's outing behind her.

"I thought this was one of (Deal's) better games," Gasso said. "This is a great rebound from last weekend. I’m really happy with that and excited to see what she’s going to do as we go forward."

Pickering finished 2-for-2 at the plate and Parker ended the game 3-for-4, Brito ended a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBIs and Hansen hit 2-for-3 with two RBIs against BYU.

Saturday’s Big 12 Tournament Championship Game will start at 6:30 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast on ESPN2.