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Oklahoma softball: Takeaways as No. 1 Sooners’ sweep Iowa State and reach 30 wins

By Chip Rouse

Jun 9, 2022; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners shortstop Grace Lyons (3) heads to home plate after a three run home run during the sixth inning against the Texas Longhorns in game two of the 2022 Women's College World Series finals at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. Oklahoma won 10-5 to win the National Championship. Mandatory Credit: Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 9, 2022; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners shortstop Grace Lyons (3) heads to home plate after a three run home run during the sixth inning against the Texas Longhorns in game two of the 2022 Women's College World Series finals at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. Oklahoma won 10-5 to win the National Championship. Mandatory Credit: Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports /
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It was another dominant performance by the top-ranked Oklahoma softball team over the weekend as stellar pitching, backed by solid hitting, powered the Sooners to a three-game sweep over Iowa State.

It was not the overpowering display we have become accustomed to seeing from what could be the most complete Sooner team of all-time, but there was little question who was the better team in this series.

OU did hit its season average for runs scored with 26 runs over three games, but that number was inflated by 10-run and 13-run outings on Saturday and Sunday after scoring just three times in the series opener on Friday.

In the series finale on Sunday, the Sooners sent a dozen hitters to the plate and scored eight runs, setting the tone for the game before Iowa State had even had a turn at bat. OU actually only needed one run as sophomore right-hander Jordy Bahl pitched a one-hit, five-inning shutout in a 10-0 Sooner win. It was Oklahoma’s 18th run-rule win of the season and the 19th shutout by the Sooner pitching staff.

OU won the middle game in the series on Saturday by a 13-3 count in another contest that ended by run rule short of an official seven innings. Iowa State scored twice in the bottom of the first on a walk, an error and a double to take an early 2-0 lead. Between the second and fifth, however, Oklahoma scored at least three runs in every inning, 13 in all, behind home runs by seven different Sooners.

Nicole May went the distance on Saturday for the Sooners, allowing three runs on four hits, and picked up her ninth win of the season.

In Friday night’s opener, veterans Grace Lyons and Kinzie Hansen each had a pair of hits for OU, but the real star of the game was starter Alex Storako, who pitched a one-hit, complete game shutout in a 3-0 Sooner win, earning her 11th win of the season without a loss. Oklahoma had just seven hits itself and just one for extra bases, a double by Hansen.

Oklahoma improves to 30-1 and gets set for what could be one of its biggest challenges of the season as Red River rival Texas, ranked No. 8 in last week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, comes to town for three games this weekend.

Friday night’s game will be played at the USA Softball Hall of Fame complex in Oklahoma City, where these same two teams played for the Women’s College World Series title and national championship last June. Saturday and Sunday’s games will be played at Marita Hynes Field in Norman.

Three takeaways from the three-game weekend sweep of Iowa State

  • Super senior Grace Lyons missed a number of games with an undisclosed absence, but she has returned to the lineup and has had an immediate impact. In three games against Iowa State she had five hits in eight official at-bats, including a pair of home runs, her third and fourth of the season.
  • The Sooners scored 26 runs on 24 hits in the Iowa State series, while holding the Cyclones to just three runs on four hits. This wide difference has been standard fare for Sooner softball weekends this year. Through 31 games this season, OU has outscored its opponents 278-27.
  • Oklahoma has not lost in 65 consecutive Big 12 series (63-0-2). The last time the Sooners lost a Big 12 game was in 2011.
  • The three Oklahoma starters in the Iowa State series (Alex Storako, Nicole May and Jordy Bahl) collectively allowed just three runs on four hits in 16 innings pitched and faced a total of 57 batters. For the season, the Sooner pitching staff is credited with a nation-best 19 shutouts, 250 strikeouts and an opponents’ batting average of .149.
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