Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma softball: Five bullets out of the 19 bulls-eyes against Morgan State

By Chip Rouse

Rocky Mountain's Kaiaaleighah Cobb (1) makes a catch in the fifth inning during the quarterfinals of the 5A state softball tournament in Aurora, Colo. on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019.102519 Statesoftball2r 07 Bb
Rocky Mountain's Kaiaaleighah Cobb (1) makes a catch in the fifth inning during the quarterfinals of the 5A state softball tournament in Aurora, Colo. on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019.102519 Statesoftball2r 07 Bb /
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The Oklahoma softball NCAA regional opener against Morgan State was over three batters into the OU lineup on Friday night and by the fifth batter it was 5-0.

The Sooners scored seven runs in the first inning a six each on both the second and third to finish off a 19-0 blowout of Morgan State in game two of the Norman Regional.

This game was a mismatch from the start as top-ranked Oklahoma, the NCAA Championship’s No. 1 overall seed, showed off the power bats that have been on display all season long. The Sooner lineup slugged four home runs and an NCAA record eight doubles in a postseason game.

And not to be outdone, fifth-year senior starter Giselle Juarez struck out six and allowed no runs and just one hit in 3.1 innings of work to improve her season record to 17-1.

Oklahoma was efficient on offense, scoring 19 times on 18 hits, 11 of them of the extra-base variety.

The Sooners (46-2) will next take on Wichita State (40-11), a 9-7 winner over Texas A&M and the No, 2 seed in the Norman Regional, at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday. The winner of that game will secure a spot in the championship game on Sunday.

The five biggest takeaways from OU’s win over Morgan State:

  • Fifth-year senior Nicole Mendes set an OU softball record for runs batted in in a postseason game with seven RBI in the win over Morgan State, including a pair of home runs. One of the home runs was a grand slam home run in the second inning, her second this season and the third in her career. She followed that with a two-run blast in the third inning.
  • Senior Jocelyn Alo hit her nation-best 28th home run of the season, a two-run shot, in the third inning. She now has 82 for her career, 13 behind the all-time record.
  • True freshman Tiare Jennings was four-for-four at the plate for the Sooners to improve her season batting average to .494, best on the team and third best in NCAA Division I softball this season.
  • Eleven OU batters collected at least one hit in the game, and nine Sooners were credited with an RBI.
  • This was Oklahoma’s 33rd run-rule victory of the season in 48 games. It was also the 22nd shutout by the Sooner pitching staff.
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