Oklahoma softball: Sooners roll over two teams for four more wins on home-opening weekend
By Chip Rouse
No. 1 Oklahoma softball outscored its four weekend opponents 39-1, including a home-opener no-hitter and four outstanding pitching performances.
Sooner starters Nicole May and Alex Storako posted complete-game wins and OU hitters slugged eight home runs in a doubleheader sweep of the University of Illinois Chicago and 17th-ranked Kentucky on Friday. May moved down UIC 5-0 in the first game on Friday. That served as the set up for a perfect-game no-hitter by Storako, who faced the minimum number of batters in an 18-0 run-rule win over Kentucky.
Six OU hitters blasted home runs in the blowout win over Kentucky, including a pair by catcher Kinzie Hansen, who went three for four and drove in seven of the Oklahoma runs. Storako, a transfer from Michigan, struck out five innings and earned her fifth win of the season without a loss.
In 18 games this season, the Sooners have outscored their opponents 162-14. Twelve of the wins have been shutouts and 10 by run rule. Six of the wins have been against ranked opponents, including a 14-0 pasting of then-No. 1 UCLA.
May hurled a masterpiece herself in the first game on Friday, going the distance and allowing UIC just two hits while striking out 11 over seven innings. Center fielder Jayda Coleman led the way offensively for the Sooners with three hits and a home run, and Rylie Boone and Haley Lee each drove in a pair of runs with a long ball.
It was sophomore Jordy Bahl’s time to show her stuff in the circle on Saturday. The right-hander made it three straight complete games with a 7-1 win over Kentucky, yielding six hits and striking out four with no walks. Coleman continued to set the table at the top of the lineup, collecting a couple of hits, one of which was a three-run found-tripper. her fifth in the last five games.
May was back in the circle for the second game on Sunday and picked up where she left off in facing UIC the day before. She again allowed no runs on two hits and fanned nine in four innings of work and picked up her fifth win of the season. The Sooners put the game away in the opening inning, sending 10 hitters to the plate and scoring six times on six hits and an error. OU scored a single run in the second and two more in the fourth to cap off a 9-0 shutout.
The Oklahoma pitching in this four-game home-opening series was nothing short of brilliant. In 30 innings of work, the four Sooners who made appearances in the circle allowed one run and 10 total hits while striking out 30 and yielding just three free passes. And, oh yeah, one perfect game.
With four more wins over the weekend, Oklahoma’s record improves to 17-1. In those 18 games, the Sooners have outscored their opponents by an overpowering 162 to 14. Twelve of the 17 wins have been shutouts and in three others the opponent was held to just one run. Ten of the OU wins have been ended early by run rule (a lead of eight or more runs after five full innings).
Patty Gasso’s crew is back on the road this weekend, heading to Starkville, Mississippi, to participate in the Bulldog Invitational hosted by Mississippi State. The Sooners will play single games against Southeastern Louisiana and Omaha on Friday and Sunday, respectively, and a pair of single games with Mississippi State on Friday night and Saturday.