Oklahoma softball: Sooners post three shutouts in weekend sweep

The No. 3-ranked Oklahoma softball team improved its season record to 20-2 with four more wins over the weekend.

It’s becoming like a weekly refrain, but once again Sooner pitching was extremely stingy in allowing runs to opponents. In Oklahoma’s four wins over the weekend, three different  opponents combined for just two runs, and that came in just one game..

Oklahoma closed out a seven-game homestand with weekend wins over Grand Canyon University and Drake and a pair of shutouts against Northwestern.

Junior left-handed pitcher Giselle Juarez picked up three more wins to run her season record to a perfect 9-0. Two of her victories were by shutout over the same team. She allowed just one hit in six innings with six strikeouts in a 7-0 OU victory over Northwestern on Friday, and came back on Sunday to record an 8-0 Sooner win by run rule. In between time, Juarez was the winning pitcher in a 5-2 victory over Drake in the opening game of a doubleheader on Saturday.

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In the nightcap on Saturday, Mariah Lopez took the circle for Oklahoma, going 5 1/3 innings, allowing just two hits and striking out eight in a 1-0 OU win over Grand Canyon. It was OU’s second win this season against GCU. The Sooners defeated the Antelopes 7-1 in a season-opening tournament in Phoenix.

The Sooners were boosted a by four home runs in the series-opening win over Northwestern. On Saturday, Oklahoma scattered eight hits by eight different players in the 5-2 win over Drake, and got by on just four hits in edging GCU 1-0 in the second game. Sooner senior left fielder Falepolima Aviu provided the difference maker with a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning, her third of the season.

Aviu continued with a hot bat for the Sooners on Sunday with a three-for-three afternoon at the plate, two runs batted in and her fourth home run of the year.

In Oklahoma’s 20 wins so far this season, the Sooners have outscored their opponents 143-14.

The Sooners head back out West for the third time later this week for a five-game tournament in Los Angeles, beginning on Thursday against UC Santa Barbara. OU also has games over the weekend with Loyola Marymount on Thursday, Dartmouth and Cal State Northridge on Friday and a solo contest with Illinois on Saturday.