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Oklahoma softball: Sooners should be back at No. 1 after statement win over UCLA

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Kinzie Hansen (9) celebrates a home run in the fifth inning during the second game of the championship series in the Women's College World Series between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Texas Longhorns at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Thursday, June 9, 2022.Wcws Ou Texas Champ
Oklahoma's Kinzie Hansen (9) celebrates a home run in the fifth inning during the second game of the championship series in the Women's College World Series between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Texas Longhorns at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Thursday, June 9, 2022.Wcws Ou Texas Champ /
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There should be little question who the No. 1 team in college softball is after the way No.2 Oklahoma softball dominated newly top-ranked UCLA on Sunday in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, California.

The Sooners (13-1) pounded out 14 runs on 20 hits and Alex Storako allowed no runs on just three hits as Oklahoma stormed to a 14-0 run-rule victory, handing UCLA its first loss after 17 consecutive wins to open the season.

Five Oklahoma hitters hit home runs in the game, and Sooner catcher Kinzie Hansen clubbed a pair of round-trippers. Four of those long balls came in a six-run second inning. After the first two hitters in the inning made outs, the Sooners scored six times on seven consecutive hits.

Hansen grounded out to open the top of the second and Rylie Boone struck out. Alyssa Brito and Jayda Coleman hit back-to-back home runs. Grace Lyons singled up the middle, and that was followed by a two-run fence-clearing blast by Tiare Jennings. Jocelyn Erickson singled through the right side and Haley Lee drove her in with a home run to left.

Oklahoma sent 10 hitters to the plate in the second inning, knocking UCLA starter and ace Megan Faraimo out of the game after 1 2/3 innings. The Sooners scored twice more in the third, two more in the fourth on a home run by Hansen and three in the fifth on Hansen’s second homer of the game.

It was about as dominant a performance as we’ve seen from the two-time defending national champions and a superior pitching performance by the Michigan transfer Storako, who recorded two wins in the Mary Nutter Classic and is 4-0 for the season. Storako faced 18 UCLA batters, three over the minimum, and allowed just three baserunners, all on singles. She struck out five Bruin batters.

Storako also pitched four scoreless innings, giving up just three hits in a tournament-opening win over Cal State Fullerton.

The UCLA win was a near duplicate of the last time these two teams met. The Sooners defeated the Bruins 15-0 in five innings in last year’s Women’s College World Series. The loss eliminated UCLA from the WCWS. OU, of course, went on to defeat Texas in the WCWS championship series and win its second conseutive national title.

Oklahoma won all five of its games in the Mary Nutter Classic. four by run rule and three by shutout. The Sooners defeated Cal State Fullerton and Texas A&M, both by 8-0 in five innings on Friday. They followed that with another doubleheader sweep on Saturday, beating Utah 10-3 and Loyola Marymount 10-1 in five innings.

Nicole May (3-0), Jordy Bahl (4-1) and No. 1 overall recruit Kierston Deal, also picked up pitching wins over the weekend.

Freshman Jocelyn Erickson collected five hits and a home run in the five-game tournament and improved her team-best .571 batting average.

Including the series finale on Sunday, the Lady Sooners outscored their five opponents 50-4 and outhit them by a margin of 26 (47-21), including 11 home runs.

Next weekend, Oklahoma will be at home for its home season opener at Marita Hynes Field. The Sooners will play doubleheaders with both the University of Illinois Chicago and Kentucky on Friday and Saturday. Kentucky comes in with a record of 10-3-1 and ranked 18th in the country this past week.

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