No, 1- seeded Oklahoma softball defeated Washington 4-2 in game one of the Norman Super Regional, leaving the Sooners one win away from the Women’s College World Series.
OU freshman Nicole May pitched a complete game, her longest stint of the season, and home-run queen Jocelyn Alo hit her NCAA-best 29th home run of the season as Oklahoma went up one game to none in the best of three Super Regional series against the 16th-seeded Lady Huskies.
With the Sooners leading 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Alo walked, the first pass allowed by Washington starter Gabbie Plain, and Kinzie Hansen singled to center, but the ball got through the legs of center fielder Jadelyn Allchin of Washington and rolled all the way to the wall. Alo scored easily and Hansen rounded the bases sliding under the cutoff throw to score what turned out to be the deciding runs in the game.
Plain had not given up more than four runs in any game this season, but in this case it was not enough because of May’s brilliant performance on the pitch for the Sooners.
The second game in the series will be played at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, and will be the first college softball game ever televised on ABC. A win by the Sooners will send Oklahoma to the Women’s College World Series for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons and the 14th time overall.
A third game, if necessary, will be played on Sunday at 3 p.m. on ESPN.
Five key takeaways from the OU Super Regional win over Washington
- Oklahoma’s five hits in the game came from five different Sooner hitters.
- Four of Washington’s seven hits in the game were from two Huskies. Senior shortstop Sis Bates was two-for-four in the game and cleanup hitter Sami Reynolds was two-for-three, including a home run.
- Oklahoma’s first run in the game in the first inning resulted after Washington pitcher Gabbie Plain hit three out of four Sooners with a pitch, forcing in Tiare Jennings from third base after she had doubled to lead off the game for OU. Washington coach Heather Tarr protested that the batter’s box was closer than regulation to home plate, which resulted in the unusual number of hit batters. Interestingly, there were no other hit batters the remainder of the game.
- The game ended on a 4-6-3-1 double play and a put out at the plate that would have narrowed the OU lead to one with a runner at second and in scoring position. Huskie first baseman Kelley Lynch homered with no one on in the seventh to cut the Sooner lead to 4-2.
- Both of Washington’s runs scored on solo home runs by left fielder Sami Reynolds in the second inning and Lynch in the seventh.