Oklahoma softball: No. 1 Sooners on home run rampage
By Chip Rouse
When you average a dozen runs and 13 hits per game, you don’t lose many games. And that is why the Oklahoma softball team is a perfect 20-0 this season.
The top-ranked Sooners won a pair of games on Friday and continued their torrid hitting, collecting a combined 20 hits and four more home runs in defeating Houston and the University of Missouri-Kansas City on Day 1 of the Hall of Fame Classic in Oklahoma City.
Hall of Fame Stadium, where the tournament is being played this weekend, is like a home away from home for Oklahoma softball. Not only is it a mere half-hour drive from the OU campus, but it also is the annual site of the Women’s College World Series, where the eight-time defending Big 12 champions have appeared in eight of the last nine seasons, including three national championships.
And it’s not just explosive offense that is contributing to the OU softball success this season. Sooner pitching has been outstanding as well.
The Sooner pitching staff, lead by fifth-year senior Giselle Juarez, who leads the staff with a 7-0 record, is allowing just a little over a run a game 1.5 hits with a nation-best 12 shutouts and 11 run-rule victories. Juarez, or “G” as she is known to her Sooner teammates, has 34 strikeouts in 34 innings.
Right-handed starter Shannon Saile has not given up a run in nine appearances in the circle over 24 innings.
Senior outfielder Jocelyn Alo hit a pair of home runs on Friday, one in each game, to run her NCAA-leading long-ball total to 17 in 20 games. She also leads the country with 45 RBI.
In addition to being the country’s top-ranked softball team, the Sooners lead all NCAA Division I teams in batting average (.479), runs (246), on-base percentage (.549), slugging percentage (.942), scoring (12.8 runs per game), shutouts (12) and home runs (70), but is second in home runs per game (3.67).
Oklahoma plays a doubleheader with Liberty on Sunday at Hall of Fame Stadium. The game was moved from Saturday to Sunday because of anticipated inclement weather in the OKC area.