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Sooner Softball: OU a Win Away From Sixth Straight Big 12 Crown

By Chip Rouse

Oct 22, 2016; Lubbock, TX, USA; An Oklahoma Sooners cheerleader entertains the crowd during the game with the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 22, 2016; Lubbock, TX, USA; An Oklahoma Sooners cheerleader entertains the crowd during the game with the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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A three-game sweep of Texas Tech over the weekend leaves Sooner softball just one win away from clinching Oklahoma’s sixth straight Big 12 championship.

The defending national champion OU softball squad, which has won eight regular-season championships in the Big 12 era, can put another conference title to bed as early as this Wednesday, when the Sooners take on second-place Oklahoma State in Stillwater in the first of two games in this season’s Bedlam Series softball rivalry to be played in Stillwater.

The scene shifts to Marita Hynes Field in Norman on Friday and then back to Stillwater for the series finale on Saturday.

Oklahoma leads the Cowboys by two full games with three games to play. Oklahoma State is still in title contention but would have to sweep the Sooners and take all three games this week to unseat OU at the top of the standings.

Baylor, at three games back of the Sooners and one behind the Cowboys, has been mathematically eliminated from the 2017 title chase by virtue of the fact that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are ahead of the Bears in the standings and are matched up against each other in the final week of the regular season.

Oklahoma exploded offensively in the final two games at Texas Tech over the weekend. The Sooners put away the Red Raiders 4-2 in the opening game of the series, then went on a run-scoring rampage in games two and three, hitting three home runs in both games and outscoring Texas Tech by a combined 26-3.

Sophomore first baseman Shay Knighton clubbed four home runs in the three games, including two in Sunday’s series finale. Center fielder Nicole Pendley also homered on Sunday, her team- and Big 12-leading 12th of the season.

Junior Paige Lowary was the winning pitcher in the Sooners’ 4-2 win on Friday, posting her 12th win of the season. Junior Paige Parker (17-5) and freshman Mariah Lopez (14-5) got the wins on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, both games shortened by run-rule to five innings.

Here’s what else you need to know about Sooner softball over the weekend:

  • Oklahoma’s two wins by run-rule (shortened to five innings because of a 10-run difference in the score) are the Sooners’ 14th and 15th of the season.
  • The 7th-ranked Sooners are now 44-8 on the season and have won 21 of their last 22 games.
  • The Sooners are 52-7 all-time against Texas Tech in softball, including a current 16-game win streak against the Red Raiders. OU has also won 20 of the last 21 games played in Lubbock.
  • Oklahoma has won all 14 of its true road games in 2017 and 24 in a row over the last two seasons.
  • OU’s Shay Knighton, Nicole Pendley and Sydney Romero are one, two and three in the Big 12 in runs batted in with 52, 48 and 44, respectively

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