Oklahoma softball: Sooners breeze through non-con doubleheader sweep in run-rule fashion

In a rare midseason week with three nonconference games, the No. 1 Oklahoma softball streak marked a first-ever trip to the state of Ohio with a pair of run-rule wins in a Saturday doubleheader.

Just another day at the office for the two-time defending national champion Sooners.

The Sooners, now 39-1 for the season, defeated Louisville 10-1 in five innings the opening game on Saturday at Softball Stadium in Oxford, Ohio. In Game 2 of the OU doubleheader, the Sooners took on host Miami of Ohio and made equally short work of the RedHawks in a 13-1 run-rule victory.

Jayda Coleman reached base six times in eight plate appearances in the two games, collecting six hits with her 11th home run, a double, four singles, driving in three runs and scoring three. The OU junior center fielder raised her second-best Big 12 batting average to .477.

The Sooners scored seven times in the first inning in the day game against Louisville, the big blow a two-run homer by Haley Lee, her team-leading 12th of the season. OU wasn’t through, though. After scoring a seven-spot off of two Louisville pitchers in the opening inning, the Sooners came back with three more in the second frame off of a third Cardinals pitcher.

The game moved along pretty quickly after that. Oklahoma collected eight of its 11 hits in Game 1 in the first two innings, and graduate transfer Alex Storako allowed just one run and two hits in 3.1 innings to earn her 13th win of the season without a loss.

OU pounded four home runs in the second game of the day-night twin bill, three of them two-run shots, and rode another sharp pitching performance by junior Nicole May on the way to a 13-1 dispatch of Miami of Ohio in six innings.

The right-handed May, who has given up just seven runs (five earned) in 12 starts and 69.0 innings pitched, was on her game once again on Saturday.  She allowed four hits, all singles, and one run in 4.1 innings and struck out five RedHawk hitters. to pick up win number 12 without a loss. Miami’s lone run came on a solo home run by Maddi Banks, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, in the third inning.

May ranks second in NCAA Division I softball with an ERA of 0.51 in 14 games.

Coleman was four-for-five at the plate in Game 2, and Tiare Jennings drove in four runs, two coming on a home run (number 10 on the season) to center field in the sixth. Sophia Nugent (7) and Kinzie Hansen (8) also hit two-run long balls, and Alynah Torres (2) had a solo blast in the fourth.

Unlike the game with Louisville, Oklahoma waited till later in the game with Miami of Ohio to unleash it potent offensive attack. OU led just 6-1 through five innings but unloaded for seven runs in the top of the sixth to shorten the game and give the Sooners their 21st run-rule victory in 40 games in the 2023 season.

Oklahoma returns to Big 12 action next weekend with three games against the Baylor Bears in Waco, Texas.