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Oklahoma softball rewind: Sooners shutout Texas Tech times three

By Chip Rouse

ROSEMONT, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 29: Aleshia Ocasio #8 of Team Warren pitches the ball in the seventh inning against Team Fagan at Parkway Bank Sports Complex on August 29, 2020 in Rosemont, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
ROSEMONT, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 29: Aleshia Ocasio #8 of Team Warren pitches the ball in the seventh inning against Team Fagan at Parkway Bank Sports Complex on August 29, 2020 in Rosemont, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /
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It was the final home Big 12 series of the season for Oklahoma softball, and the Sooners finished it off in record fashion.

The nation’s No. 1 team completed a three-game sweep of lowly Texas Tech on Sunday with a 20-0 run-rule win in five innings. The Oklahoma pitching staff recorded three consecutive shutouts over the Lady Red Raiders (18-23, 2-13), limiting Tech to just eight hits total for the three games.

The two teams played a doubleheader on Saturday. OU won the first game on Saturday by a 15-0 score and followed that with a more pedestrian 5-0 shutout victory in the second game.

Oklahoma outscored the Red Raiders 40-0 in the three-game series and outhit them 34-8. With the Sooners scoring in their opening at bat in all three games, the contests were virtually over after one inning.

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Interestingly, in the 20-0 blowout on Sunday, the Sooners led by just 2-0 after three innings, but then exploded for a record-setting18 runs in the top half of the fourth to put the game well out of reach.

OU sent 23 batters to the plate (two and a half times through the lineup) in the fourth inning. The 18 runs set an Oklahoma softball record for a single inning and is the second most in NCAA history.

The OU power bats were in full display over the weekend, pounding at least two home runs in every game and a total of seven for the series to improve their nation-leading total to 111, an average of 2.92 per game. The Sooners’ home run total is 27 more than the closest challenger (Arizona State).

Senior Jocelyn Alo hit her 24th home run of the year, the most in NCAA Division I this season, as the second batter in the game on Sunday. Another senior, Jana Johns, slugged three home runs in the series, one in each game, to improve her season total to 10.

Freshman Tiare Jennings, the Big 12 co-Player of the Week a week ago, had another big weekend. She was six-for-eight at the plate with three RBI and six runs scored.

The Sooners’ two veteran starting pitchers, left-seniors Giselle Juarez and Shannon Saile, were the winning pitchers in the Texas Tech series.

Saile was the winner in game two, going the full seven innings and allowing just three hits while striking out 13, and improving her season record to 11-0. Juarez started both games one an three and has now won 14 games without a loss.

The next action for the Sooner softball team is another quick midweek turnaround, a  doubleheader at Baylor (24-13, 5-4) on Tuesday.

Other notable highlights for fans to know from OU’s three-game shutout sweep of Texas Tech:

  • Sunday’s game was the 19th time this season that Oklahoma has cleared the fences at least three times in a game.
  • OU’s 111 home runs through 38 games is just four away from tying the school record 115 in a season.
  • Eleven different Sooners have hit multiple home runs this season.
  • The 20 runs on Sunday marks the fifth time this season the Sooners have scored 20-plus runs in a game.
  • Oklahoma had two run-rule wins in this series, giving them 28 for the season, a new program record. With three more shutouts, the Sooners’ upped their Division I-leading total to 20 in 2021.
  • The Sooners have won 55 consecutive games against Big 12 opponents and 58 consecutive conference series.
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