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Oklahoma softball: Sooners make short work of hated Horns

By Chip Rouse

TAMPA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 26: A general view of the helmets and bats of the against the Philadelphia Phillies prior to the Grapefruit League spring training game against the New York Yankees at Steinbrenner Field on February 26, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 26: A general view of the helmets and bats of the against the Philadelphia Phillies prior to the Grapefruit League spring training game against the New York Yankees at Steinbrenner Field on February 26, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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After going to extra innings on Friday to defeat 10th-ranked Texas and clinch the series win, the Oklahoma softball team finished off the job and the series sweep with a 9-2 victory on Saturday.

Junior right-handed starter Shannon Saile pitched a complete-game, four-hitter as the No. 1-ranked Sooners extended the nation’s longest active win streak to 31 games, matching the longest winning streak in OU softball history (achieved in 2016). Saile picked up her ninth win of the season to go with one loss.

Oklahoma (41-2, 12-0) took a 2-1 lead in the second inning after freshman Grace Green followed a single by Jocelyn Alo with a two-run bomb, her 13th of the season. Alo added a three-run blast of her own in the fifth, her eighth of the 2019 campaign, and the Sooners put the game away for good with a four-run seventh inning.

The Big 12’s leading hitter, Sydney Romero, was one of four Sooners who collected a couple of hits in the game, along with fellow senior Shay Knighton, Green and Alo. Green and Alo accounted  for seven of OU’s nine runs in Saturday’s series finale.

"“I thought we came out ready to fight. Winning the series wasn’t good enough for this team. They really wanted to go out and get the sweep,” OU head coach Patty Gasso told reporters after Saturday’s game."

Friday’s extra-inning contest was much more in doubt. Texas stroked a dozen hits off of OU’s two best pitchers — starter Mariah Lopez and Giselle Juarez, who between them have 32 wins this season. Fortunately for the Sooners, the Lady Longhorns stranded 10 base runners.

The game was tied at two after the regulation seven innings. OU pushed across a pair of runs in the top half of the eighth on a double, a single, a sacrifice fly and a steal of home. Texas put two runners on base in the bottom half of the eighth. One scored on a wild pitch, and the second base runner was tagged out at the plate by Sooner catcher Lynnsie Elam to end the game.

"“This was one of the hardest-fought games we’ve had all season,” Gasso said in a news story posted on the OU athletic website. “Our pitching staff really worked its tail off to keep us in the game, and there was some timely hitting to keep us in the game.”"

Oklahoma has now won 37 consecutive games against Big 12 opponents and has not lost in its last 18 games against Texas.

The Sooners stay on the road with a game at Wichita State on Wednesday, and then its off to Ames, Iowa, for three games against Iowa State next weekend.

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