OU Softball: Oklahoma Punishes Weber State at Hall of Fame Classic

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma got off to a near-perfect start at the Hall of Fame Classic on Saturday.

Taking on Weber State for the second time in as many days, OU allowed just one hit while the Sooner bats battered the Wildcats to win 16-0 in five innings at Hall of Fame Stadium.

Alex Storako and Kierston Deal combined in the circle to shut out Weber State, firing the top-ranked Sooners to 25-1 on the year while the Wildcats fell to 6-19.

Oklahoma’s offense came out firing in the first inning, and Weber State helped the proceedings with shaky performances in the field.

Jayda Coleman drew a leadoff walk, and Tiare Jennings should have popped out in foul territory, but the Wildcats were unable to corral the ball.

Instead, Jennings also drew a walk and the runners were pushed over to second and third on passed balls.

Haley Lee punished the mistakes by rocketing a double off the center field wall, putting the Sooners up 2-0, and then she scored herself on back-to-back wild pitches.

Kinzie Hansen furthers the damage with a single back up the middle that pated Jocelyn Erickson and Alyssa Brito, and a disciplined plate appearance from Alynah Torres resulted in a walk.

Avery Hodge moved the runners over with a slap back to the pitcher, and Sophia Nugent was the beneficiary of a miscommunication between the shortstop and the pitcher that resulted in a dropped popup that landed right back on the pitching rubber to extend the lead to 6-0.

Coleman dribbled a ball up the line, grounding out to the first baseman but scoring Torres to put OU on top 7-0 and Jennings lifted a ball that bounced off the wall in left field to score Nugent.

In Lee’s second at-bat of the inning, what initially appeared to be a routine fly ball got caught in the swirling wind. Instead of ending the inning as the third out, the ball landed safely in shallow left field, allowing Jennings to come home and cap off the nine-run inning.

OU tacked on another four runs in the second inning thanks to an RBI-single from Torres, a two-run blast by Nugent and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Cydney Sanders.

Wind ain't no problem for @SophiaN2021 🚀

B2 | OU 12, WSU 0 | 📺 ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/lJCQNKTm6V
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) March 18, 2023

Another Weber State error in the third inning allowed Rylie Boone to reach safely and score Quincee Lilio, bringing the advantage to 14-0.

Deal entered the game in the top of the fourth inning, and was steady after Gasso said she fought through nerves pitching at Hall of Fame Stadium in front of a packed crowd for the first time on Friday.

The true freshman retired six of the eight batters she faced, only allowing a walk and a hit to close out the run-rule victory.

Storako was her usual steady self starting for the Sooners, striking out six of the nine batters she faced in three quick innings of work.

Torres doubled again in the fourth inning for good measure, scoring another pair of runs.

OU won’t have to wait long to get back to action, as the Sooners will turn around and immediately face the No. 19-ranked Auburn Tigers Saturday night at Hall of Fame Stadium.

The Tigers fell to Northwestern 6-5 earlier on Saturday, falling on a walk-off home run.

The battle between future SEC foes will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the AllSooners message board community today!

Sign up for your premium membership to AllSooners.com today, and get access to the entire Fan Nation premium network!

Follow AllSooners on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest OU news.