Oklahoma softball: Sooners fall to long ball in Bedlam round one
By Chip Rouse
There was a twist of irony in the Oklahoma softball loss to in-state rival Oklahoma State on Friday night.
The top-ranked Sooners (40-2, 14-1), who lead the nation in home runs, and by a huge number, were done in by the very weapon that has led them to so many dominating wins this season. Four of Oklahoma State’s six hits on the night were fence-clearing blasts.
A one-out, two-run long ball by OSU senior Hayley Busby in the bottom of the third proved to be the winning blow as the home-team Cowgirls defeated Oklahoma 6-4, handing the Sooners their first loss in 58 consecutive Big 12 games.
The Sooners, held to just five hits after averaging a highly efficient 11 runs on 11 hits per game, got a pair of home runs themselves, two-run bombs from both Jayda Coleman and Jocelyn Alo, but it wasn’t enough.
Fifth-year senior Carrie Eberle went the distance for Oklahoma State, allowing four runs on five hits with four walks and a strikeout, and earned her 19th win of the season with just one loss.
Her counterpart for the Sooners, left-handed starter Giselle Juarez, also a fifth-year senior, was able to complete just 2.1 innings, giving up five of the Cowgirls’ six runs on six hits, three of them home runs. Freshman Nicole May came on in relief in the third inning and finished out the game, but the damage had already been done.
The win lifted 7th-ranked Oklahoma State (40-6, 15-1) a half-game ahead of Oklahoma in the Big 12 standings, but the Sooners have two games left in the series in which to regain the Big 12’s top spot.
If Oklahoma wins the next two games this weekend, it will clinch the Sooners’ ninth straight conference championship and earn them their 60th consecutive Big 12 series win. A split of the two games will award the championship to Oklahoma State, its first in the Big 12 era.
Saturday and Sunday’s contests will be broadcast on ESPN (Saturday at 3 p.m. CT) and ESPNU (Sunday at 11 a.m.).