Oklahoma softball: No. 2 Sooners sweep three more to go 7-0
By Chip Rouse
The No. 2-ranked Oklahoma softball team found themselves trailing for the first time this season, but managed a three-game sweep in Houston over the weekend.
The Sooners took a doubleheader over Houston on Sunday, winning 12-4 and 5-3, and recorded their fourth shutout of the season with a 13-0 win over Tarleton State on Monday afternoon.
The original weekend schedule was altered because of the major winter weather that impacted the state of Texas last week. Oklahoma was supposed to play games against the University of Texas-San Antonio and Sam Houston State on Friday in Huntsville Texas, and then travel to Houston for a doubleheader on Sunday. The Friday games were cancelled because of the severe weather conditions.
The Sooners’ 5-3 win over Houston in the second game of the Sunday doubleheader was the first time this season that Oklahoma has played a complete seven-inning game. The Oklahoma bats were more productive in the second game, driving in 12 runs on 17 hits as the Sooners prevailed in a six-inning game decided by run rule.
Houston scored three runs in the opening inning of the first game off Oklahoma ace Giselle Juarez to take an early 3-0 lead. It was the first time this season that the Sooners have trailed in a game. OU scored five times in the top of the second and never trailed from that point.
Senior Jocelyn Alo had a big afternoon at the plate in the two games against Houston, going 5 for 8 with a pair of home runs and four RBI.
Juarez was the winning pitcher in game one at Houston, going 4.0 innings, allowing four runs on five hits along with four strikeouts. Freshman Nicole May picked up the Oklahoma win in game two, with a 5.1-inning, three-run, three-hit, eight-strikeout performance. Both pitchers earned their third win of the season.
Oklahoma batted just four times, scoring in every inning in the 13-0 win over an overmatched Tarleton State. Alo and junior shortstop Grace Lyons drove in a combined nine runs (five by Alo and four by Lyons) as the Sooners recorded their fourth shutout in seven games. Alo stroked her third home run in as many games, a grand slam, giving her six home runs through the first two weeks of the season.
It was pitcher by committee for the Sooners against Tarleton. Shannon Saile, Macy McAdoo, Olivia Rains and Juarez all saw action in the circle, with Saile picking up her first win of the year, allowing no runs and no hits in 2.1 innings. Saile struck out four of the seven batters she faces.
Oklahoma’s next action will be in the state of Arizona. OU will play New Mexico and Arizona State on Friday in Tempe, Arizona, and move over to Phoenix on Saturday for games with New Mexico and Grand Canyon University on Saturday and Portland State on Sunday.