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Oklahoma Baseball, Softball Teams Get Head Start on Spring

By Chip Rouse

Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; A member of the Oklahoma Sooners Ruf Neks waves a flag in the second quarter of the 2015 CFP Semifinal at the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; A member of the Oklahoma Sooners Ruf Neks waves a flag in the second quarter of the 2015 CFP Semifinal at the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oklahoma baseball was projected to finish sixth in the Big 12, while the Sooner softball squad was a near unanimous choice to win the league crown going away.

If you didn’t know better, though, and went solely by their won-lost records after one month of the 2017 season, you might get the two confused.

The OU baseball team entered March like a lion, winning nine of its first 10 games, including taking two of three from then No. 17 Long Beach State in the season-opening series.

The defending national-champion Sooner softball team was 9-4 through February and opened March with 7-3 win over Wichita State. It was Oklahoma’s 13th consecutive true road victory and the Sooners 34th consecutive win vs. the Lady Shockers of Wichita State.

Don’t be misled by OU’s four softball losses, however. Two of the four came against ranked opponents (Auburn and Tennessee) and all four have been by one run. Oklahoma also owns a nine-run victory over then No. 6-ranked UCLA.

The softball squad is currently ranked in a tie for ninth in the latest ESPN/USA Softball Top 25. That’s down  eight spots from where the Sooners began the season: ranked No. 1. Oklahoma softball is scheduled to face 16 teams that competed in last season’s NCAA Softball Championship and has already played two teams that were among the eight schools to make it to the 2016 Women’s College World Series.

A couple of weeks into the season, OU ranks third in the conference in team batting, with a collective .298 average, and third in pitching with a team earned run average of 2.47. Second baseman Caleigh Clifton leads the Sooners in hitting (.417) and newcomer Paige Lowary has emerged as a strong complement to OU ace Paige Parker in the pitching circle with a record of 3-1 and a 2.23 ERA.

“I like the depth in our lineup, and I love that our 7-8-9 guys can drive in runs.” –OU baseball coach Pete Hughes

The OU baseball team is halfway through an 18-game home stand to begin the 2017 season, and so far they have taken full advantage of being at home.

Picked to finish sixth in the Big 12, the Sooners have earned their way into the top 25 in Collegiate Baseball’s latest rankings. Oklahoma is ranked 18th this week, according to the weekly poll conducted by Collegiate Baseball News.

The Sooners are led by senior first basemen Austin O’Brien, who is hitting .471 and leads the Big 12 in that department. The Sooners also have the top pitcher in the conference in Jake Irvin, who owns a 2-0 record and an off-the-chart O.64 ERA in 14 innings of work as an OU starter.

“I like the depth of our lineup, and I love the fact that our 7-8-9 guys can drive in runs,” said Sooner head baseball coach Pete Hughes after his team’s 10-3 mid-week win over Arkansas-Little Rock.

Over the course of the long season – both teams are barely a fourth the way through – the OU softball and baseball teams are likely to switch places in terms of their season records and wins in big games, but for the time being, it is refreshing to see both doing very well relative to the level of competition they have played and how they have come out on the scoreboard in those early-season games.

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