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Oklahoma softball: Sooners make short work of Iowa State, move on to Big 12 Championship game.

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma shortstop Grace Lyons (3) hits a home run during the Big 12 softball tournament game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Iowa State Cyclones at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, on Friday, May 12, 2023.
Oklahoma shortstop Grace Lyons (3) hits a home run during the Big 12 softball tournament game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Iowa State Cyclones at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, on Friday, May 12, 2023. /
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The top-seeded Oklahoma softball team scored three times in the opening inning and tacked on four more in the second and a pair of runs in the third and cruised to a 9-0 run-rule win over the No, 5-seeded Iowa State Cyclones in the first of two semifinal games in the Big 12 Tournament on Friday.

All but one of the Sooners’ 10 hits in the contest off of two Iowa State pitchers came in the first three innings, the big blow being a three-run home-run blast by Grace Lyons in the second.

Jayda Coleman hit one out of the park in the third inning, with one on, her team-high 14th homerun of the season.

The combination of starter Alex Storako, Kiersten Deal and Jordy Bahl held the Cyclones to just one hit, an infield single in the fourth, and no runs and faced just 17 batters in the shortened five-inning game. Storako got the start and went three full innings, giving up no runs or hits, striking out three and walking two. Deal pitched an inning and a third and Bahl closed out the game getting the final two outs in the fifth.

Iowa State advanced to the semifinals to face OU with an 8-1 win over No. 4 Baylor in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

The Sooners will play the winner of the other semifinal game between Kansas, a 6-3 winner over No. 3-seeded Oklahoma State in a quarterfinal game that started on Thursday and was resumed on Friday morning after being suspended because of weather.

Oklahoma swept both Texas and Kansas during the regular season, Saturday’s Big 12 Championship game will start at 2 p.m. CT at ASA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

Takeaways from the Sooners’ Big 12 Tournament semifinal win

  • With the win over Iowa State, Oklahoma improved to 50-1 on the season and extended its nation-best win streak to 42 games, five away from tying the NCAA All-time record.
  • The 9-0 shutout is OU’s nation-best 30th of the season (in 51 games) and 24th victory by run rule.
  • Four different Oklahoma hitters — Jayda Coleman, Tiare Jennings, Grace Lyons and Haley Lee — collected two hits apiece.
  • Five of the Sooners’ 10 hits were for extra bases.
  • Oklahoma is going for its fourth Big 12 Tournament win in the last five years the tournament has been played.
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