Weekend Wrap: 'Resilient' Oklahoma Builds Identity With Weekend Sweep

Patty Gasso's Sooners again displayed a knack for bouncing back in weekend sweep of No. 12 Arkansas.

Oklahoma third baseman Nelly McEnroe-Marinas / John Hoover / Sooners on SI

Oklahoma took its show on the road for the first time in SEC play, but the result was the same. 

Patty Gasso’s No. 1-ranked Sooners (26-0, 6-0 SEC) remained unbeaten with a sweep of the No. 12-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks (20-6, 1-5).

OU’s wins came in a variety of ways. Sam Landry shut out Arkansas in the series opener, which was a tight game until it wasn’t. The Sooners had to erase deficits in both the final games, but the steady approach at the plate was a constant all weekend long. 

Landry’s reintroduction to the lineup proved to be massive as she picked up a pair of saves, and the young guns at the plate continued to torment every pitcher in their path.

Here’s what we learned in Oklahoma’s second conference series:

Ready to Fight 

Oklahoma outfielder Kasidi Pickering / John E. Hoover

If Gasso knows anything about her team, it’s that they know how to respond. 

Oklahoma’s pitching staff has allowed runs in 32 innings this year. Nineteen times, the offense has immediately fired back with runs in the next frame. 

Twice the Sooners have allowed runs in the top half of the final inning as the home team, meaning OU has only come to the plate 30 times after allowing a run. 

Oklahoma has had the back of its pitching staff 63.3 percent of the time after conceding a run. 

“They’ve got this thing going on and it’s kind of invincible right now,” Gasso said after the pair of wins on Saturday. 

She doesn’t even have to rally the troops after a tough inning, Gasso said. The team forms a circle themselves and takes over the pep talk. 

“They’ve got something like — I don’t even know how to explain it,” Gasso said. “It’s just that word: resilient. Like we’re not going down. They refuse to budge. They refuse to crack. And even if they crack they bring it back. They just don’t stop. They do not stop.”

Finding a response is always easier when a team can strike from any part of the lineup. 

Freshman shortstop Gabbie Garcia has hit all of her team-leading nine home runs in the last eight games. 

In SEC play alone, redshirt freshman third baseman Nelly McEnroe-Marinas is hitting .522 with four home runs, three doubles, 14 RBIs and she’s also drawn a walk. 

The Sooners have scored 45 runs in six SEC contests despite Ella Parker hitting .077 and Cydney Sanders batting .133 so far in league play. 

"Our offense is too good to be held back," Gasso said. "Up and down the lineup, they’re really good. They’re just better than I thought they would be at this time. They’re stronger. They hit the ball hard — they can smoke the ball — but they also lay down bunts, they can steal bases. So it’s kind of coming at you at all angles."

Good luck slowing the bats down, Missouri.

Landry Owns

Oklahoma pitcher Sam Landry / John Hoover / Sooners on SI

Landry quickly made up for her absence last weekend in the South Carolina series. 

Across three games at Bogle Park in Fayetteville, Landry pitched 11 1/3 innings. 

She allowed no runs, five hits and two walks while striking out 10.

Perhaps the most impressive bit about Landry’s weekend was when she faced off with Arkansas star Bri Ellis. 

Entering the weekend, Ellis had only struck out twice. 

In at-bats against Landry this weekend, Ellis went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts and a single that came in her final at-bat of the weekend. 

“I feel like there’s at least one hitter in every lineup that you’re like, ‘We have to keep her off the base.’ And I have a lot of respect for Bri,” Landry said on Saturday. “I played travel ball with her growing up, I have a lot of respect for her. She’s a great hitter. So today my stuff was just working. I was able to keep her guessing and I think it just went my way.”

Any time the Sooners ran into any trouble, Gasso and associate head coach and pitching coach Jennifer Rocha were able to call upon Landry to settle things down. 

Pair that with a steady defense, and it makes for a good combination. 

About that defense… 

Making Plays in Different Ways

Oklahoma second baseman Ailana Agbayani / John Hoover / Sooners on SI

There were no Jayda Coleman style-home run robberies where an Oklahoma outfielder went feet over the wall to pull one back in Fayetteville. 

In fact, one of Ellis’ home runs on Sunday bounced off Hannah Coor’s glove and over the fence in center field. 

But Gasso’s defense kept runs off the board, even if it didn’t show up in the box score.

In the third inning of Saturday’s second game, second baseman Ailana Agbayani knocked down a ball destined to score two runs, instead allowing one Razorback to cross home and getting an out at first. 

The top of the fourth became one of those bounce-back innings for the Sooners, with a Garcia double getting a run back. 

Building momentum by backing a nice defensive play with offensive production was a staple of OU’s weekend. 

“It’s definitely a momentum changer, and you want all the momentum you can get,” Landry said. “… The defense was amazing today. I think they’re amazing every day, but today they really stepped up. I think that just kept momentum on our side.”

Oklahoma will be back in action with a midweek contest against East Texas A&M on Wednesday in Norman before headed out to Columbia, MO, to take on the Missouri Tigers next weekend. 

feed