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Oklahoma softball: Sooners defeat Baylor in Big 12 Championship opening game

By Chip Rouse

Montgomery Central's Nicole Melton hits against Northeast during action at Northeast Tuesday afternoon. The Lady Eagles defeated the Lady Indians 4-0.Nehs Mchs Softball 02
Montgomery Central's Nicole Melton hits against Northeast during action at Northeast Tuesday afternoon. The Lady Eagles defeated the Lady Indians 4-0.Nehs Mchs Softball 02 /
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Oklahoma softball is one win away from advancing to the Big 12 Tournament championship game on Saturday.

The top-ranked and No. 1-seeded Sooners defeated No. 4 seed Baylor 10-2 in five innings on Friday afternoon at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City.

OU will play No. 6 see Texas Tech in the final game on Friday night. If the Sooners beat the Red Raiders, as they are expected to do, they will play either No. 2 seed Oklahoma State or No. 3 Texas for the conference tournament title.

The win over Baylor was Oklahoma’s 43rd of the season against just two losses and their 31st victory by run rule (leading by eight or more runs after five innings).

Baylor scored first, producing a pair of runs in the first inning off of OU starter Shannon Saile on two hits, a walk and a throwing error. The Sooners did not score in the first inning, but scored four times in the home half of the second, the big blow coming on a three-run home run by freshman center fielder Jayda Coleman, her seventh of the season.

The Sooners added two more runs in the third, three in the fourth and a single run in the fifth that ended the game. Sophomore catcher Kinzie Hansen, hit a solo home run in OU’s two-run fourth and cleared the fences a second time with a three-run blast to center field in the fifth.

Saile pitched a five-inning complete game, allowing just four hits after the first inning, no runs, and striking out 10 Baylor hitters in the game.

Hansen was two-for-three with two runs scored and four RBI. Coleman also had a pair of hits in three official at bats, scored twice and drove in three. OU outhit the Lady Bears 12-6. Both teams left six men on base.

The Sooners added to their nation-leading home-run total, which now stands at 123 for the season, an OU program record.

Oklahoma has won six previous Big 12 Tournament titles and is seeking their seventh to go along with 12 Big 12 regular-season championships, including nine in a row.

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