Sooners Softball Downs Arkansas in Double Header

If anyone thought the Oklahoma Sooners women’s softball team would suffer a hangover after winning the national championship last season and losing Keilani Ricketts to graduation, the Sooners set out to prove them wrong today. In a rematch from the 2013 Regionals, the Oklahoma Sooners swept the Arkansas Razerbacks in two games, 7-0 and 7-1.

It was just like last season, OU scoring lots of runs and delivering a dominating pitching performance.

In the first game of the double header, OU scored a run in each of the first four innings while sophomore pitcher Kelsey Stevens, Taylor Dewbery and Georgia Casey combined for the shutout. Stevens pitched 4.1 innings, only giving up two hits, while Dewberry and Casey finished with no hits and only one walk. It wasn’t a Ricketts performance, as the three only combined for four strikeouts, but they did not allow more than three people to reach base in the game.

The biggest returning star for the Sooners was first baseman Lauren Chamberlain. She went 0-for-1 in the game with three walks. She made up for it with two stolen bases. Javen Henson hit the game’s only home run on a 2-for-3 game, while scoring two runs and knocking in one RBI. Whitney Ellis only got one hit, but also hit a sacrifice fly, and finished with a team-high three RBIs. Leslie Miller and Shelby Pendley also finished with two hits apiece.

The second game was slower starting, as OU did not score until the third inning, but they ended up with the same total of runs as the first game, while also giving up the only run of the day to the Razerbacks.

This game saw four Sooners pitchers, with Maggie Ham getting the start and pitching 2.2 innings with only one hit. Dewberry made her second appearance of the day and threw two Ks and one walk before Leslie Miller came in and walked one in one inning. Casey came in for her second appearance of the day and walked one and gave up a run on three hits before she finished out the game.

Chamberlain went 2-for-3 in the game with one walk. She did hit one RBI and scored a run while hitting one of five Sooners’ doubles in the game. The other Sooners to hit doubles included Javen Henson, Shelby Pendley, Kady Self and Callie Parsons.

On the day, Javen Henson was one of the stars, going 4-for-7 (.571) with three runs, three RBIs and a walk.

The Oklahoma Sooners softball team next plays North Texas on Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. CST.