OU Softball: Oklahoma Overpowers St. Thomas

NORMAN — Cydney Sanders homered twice in the second inning to power Oklahoma to another run rule win.

The schedule for the weekend’s Okana Invitational was shifted on Thursday morning, bringing a Friday matchup with St. Thomas up one day.

Even Patty Gasso was unable to shift the schedule, as she had a prior speaking engagement, so associate head coach JT Gasso stepped into the third base box for OU.

The team seemed unbothered by the damp weather, the shift in plans and the opponent, as Oklahoma put eight runs on the board in the second inning to quickly put the game at risk of ending early.

The No. 2-ranked Sooners rolled from there, overpowering St. Thomas 12-4 at Love’s Field in five innings.

"I have not (hit two home runs in one inning). Not like that before," Sanders said after the win. "But I think I was just very focused today of just working on my process. Not really trying to be result oriented or thinking too much about how I’m going to hit the ball. Just kind of going for it and I think it worked out pretty well today."

Oklahoma moved to 33-3 on the year with the win, while St. Thomas dropped to 19-12.

Gasso said he was alerted to the fact that he'd be leading the team this morning when the schedule change occurred.

"It was this morning," he said. "She said you’re going to have to go to third and I said, ‘Alright, let’s go. I got it.’ But yeah, we just didn’t skip a beat. We were going. But don’t tell her I said that. But yeah, it was all good."

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It wasn't the first time he's manned the coaching box outside the dugout, but it's not too common for Gasso.

"Last time I was at third, actually the first time I've been at third was Game 2 Oklahoma State 2021," he said. "Coach got tossed and I just got thrown out there, with a mask on that didn't fit and it was... No, it felt good. What was nice, it felt like we were business as normal. We'll work, we'll do stuff like that in practice. I'll be at third and whatnot."

The offense looked as if it would immediately jump on St. Thomas.

Ella Parker had a chance to open the scoring in the first with two outs and two runners on, but her hard-hit ball was directed straight to St. Thomas center fielder Avery Wukawitz.

Sanders didn’t allow the defense to make a play in the second.

She led the inning off with a solo shot that barely snuck into the first row in right field to put OU up 1-0.

Ailana Agbayani then drew a walk and Isabela Emerling singled to give the Sooners a pair of baserunners.

Maya Bland flew out, but she hit the ball deep enough to advance both runners, allowing OU to take advantage of chaos with Abigale Dayton stepping back up to the plate.

She laid down a bunt, and St. Thomas pitcher Ella Cook fielded the ball in time to keep Agbayani at third. But Cook overthrew her catcher, and with the ball at the backstop, Agbayani scored.

Nelly McEnroe-Marinas then cleared the bases with a single through the right side, pushing the Oklahoma lead to 4-0.

Gabbie Garcia’s single barely stayed fair, but it allowed McEnroe-Marinas to score, putting a pair of runners in scoring position for Parker with one out.

Parker flew out, but Sanders hammered her second homer of the inning, a three-run shot, to extend the advantage to 8-0.

OU left-hander Kierston Deal started, but she was withdrawn after St. Thomas got a leadoff runner aboard with a slow-rolling infield single in the third.

Deal allowed just two hits and a walk, but she registered no strikeouts.

Isabella Smith took over and struck out the first batter, but she allowed a run off a two-out double.

Smith quickly rebounded to end the top of the third and send OU’s bats back to the plate with an 8-1 lead.

Sydney Barker crushed a three-run shot in the fourth to put OU up 11-1, then Sanders nearly hit her third bomb of the night, but the ball fell just short on the warning track.

"We were trying to put a little pressure with a first pitch hit and run, try to put the ball on the ground and she hit it out. I was like yeah, smart," Gasso joked of Barker's homer. "Way to put the ball on the ground. But I think she's been kind of waiting for that and just really, I don't wanna say pressing, but really working hard to get comfortable and she just hit an absolute rocket. I think she was rounding first, she looked over with a giant grin. She knew it was coming. So sometimes good mistakes happen."

After hitting the first home run of her career on Tuesday, freshman catcher Corri Hicks doubled her haul for the week with a no-doubter to left to put Oklahoma up 12-1.

Freshman Riley Zache then notched a career first when she singled with two outs in the fourth.

Paytn Monticelli took the mound in the fifth, but she allowed a leadoff home run to Keira Murphy.

She then allowed back-to-back walks, and Cassidy Carby plated two with a double to cut the lead to 12-4. Carby was thrown out trying to stretch the hit to a triple, which settled Monticelli in.

The right-hander retired the next two batters to end the game.

Oklahoma is scheduled to take on UCF at 7 p.m. on Friday, weather permitting.