The dominance of Oklahoma softball this season showed up yet again on Tuesday as the No. 1-ranked Sooners rolled over their third top-10 opponent of the season, defeating No. 8 Kentucky 9-1 in six innings.
Three Sooners blasted a pair of home runs each, accounting for eight of Oklahoma’s nine runs as OU powered its way to its 26th win of the season and 22nd run-rule victory.
The six Oklahoma home runs gives the Sooners an NCAA-leading 70 for the season. Super senior Jocelyn Alo was one of the three Sooners who went yard against Kentucky, adding to her NCAA career record total. The OU designated hitter hit solo shots in the first and sixth innings, giving her 14 for the season and the 97th and 98th of her sensational career.
Big 12 Co-Player of the Week Lynnsie Elam also knocked a couple of balls out of the park, giving her six round-trippers and 16 runs batted in in less than a week. Alyssa Brito, a transfer from Oregon, completed the Oklahoma home-run trifecta with bombs in the fourth and sixth innings.
Sophomore center fielder Jayda Coleman didn’t join the home-run parade, but she did collect three of the Sooners’ 11 hits. Five Sooners had at least two hits in the game.
It wasn’t all about offense and the long ball, however. As they have in most every game this season, the Sooners complemented their lethal lineup with shutdown pitching.
Freshman sensation Jordy Bahl went all six innings, allowing just one run on five hits and striking out a dozen batters to earn her 12th win of the season.
As dominant as Oklahoma has been this season — 22 wins by run-rule and 15 by shutout and outscoring their 26 opponents 259-24 — you can’t help but wonder if this Sooner team might be the greatest in program history and perhaps the greatest ever.
This group of Sooners is a complete team, featuring a preposterously talented lineup and a lockdown pitching staff. They are quite as good defensively as they have been in the past, but they still pretty darn good in that category. Their .968 fielding percentage ranks in the top 50 in the country and second best in the Big 12.
There’s still a long way to go this season, with the Big 12 schedule kicking off this weekend. Oklahoma hosts Baylor in its Big 12 opener this weekend. But the way things are looking now, the Sooners are the reigning national champions, and they intend to stay there until someone proves them otherwise.