Oklahoma softball: There’s no stopping OU in Big 12 play

Oklahoma softball preserved its unblemished Big 12 record with a come-from-behind, extra-inning win over Texas on Sunday.

Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the refuse-to-lose Sooners rallied for a pair of runs for a 5-4 win and a series sweep over archrival Texas. The win in Sunday’s series finale clinched at least a share of the Big 12 championship for Oklahoma, which improved its conference record to 15-0.

The third-ranked Sooners (44-3) can wrap up their seventh straight outright conference crown next weekend in a Bedlam series showdown with second-pace Oklahoma State (36-16, 12-3).

The three-game home sweep of Texas gives OU 14 consecutive wins over the Longhorns and 27 consecutive wins at Marita Hynes Field, dating back to last season.

The Sooners are off to their best start in Big 12 history. After having their consecutive-game win streak stopped at 30 with a loss to then No. 4-ranked Oregon, the Sooners have begun a new streak, which is now up to five games.

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Three OU players hit solo home runs in the 5-4 win over Texas on Sunday, including a pair by freshman Jocelyn Alo, who should just about have Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors locked up. Alo leads the nation and the Big 12 with 23 home runs. That’s seven more than her closest Big 12 challenger.

The native Hawaiian, from the Island of Oahu, also leads the Big 12 in runs batted in (58), total bases (132) and slugging percentage (1.008), and she is fifth in the conference with a .427 batting average.

Oklahoma ranks in the top-10 nationally in the three most fundamental aspects of the game. The Sooners are No. 1 in fielding (.991, with just 11 errors in 47 games), No. 2 in staff ERA (1.11) and seventh in hitting, with a team batting average of .325.

In two of the Sooners’ three losses this season, both shutouts (2-0 to Arizona and 5-0 to Oregon). their bats were shut down by strong pitching. OU manages just a single hit in both games.

OU has shutout its opponent in 22 of its 47 games this season, and 17 times the Sooners have won by run rule (a lead of at least eight runs after five innings). The Sooners have played two extra inning games in 2018, including the series finale with Texas on Sunday, and won both.

The two-time defending national championship will begin postseason play in a couple of weeks, and they are gunning for a third consecutive national crown, which would tie them with UCLA as the only schools to win three consecutive Women’s College World Series championships.

OU’s four WCWS titles ranks third behind UCLA (11) and Arizona (8).