Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma softball: Sooners power past Mizzou, advance to Norman Regional final

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Cydney Sanders (1) drives in a run in the seventh inning of a Bedlam college softball game between the Oklahoma State University Cowgirls (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, May 6, 2023. Oklahoma won 4-2.
Oklahoma's Cydney Sanders (1) drives in a run in the seventh inning of a Bedlam college softball game between the Oklahoma State University Cowgirls (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, May 6, 2023. Oklahoma won 4-2. /
facebooktwitterreddit

Jordy Bahl shut down the Missouri Tigers on one hit, and Kinzie Hansen and Cydney Sanders provided the long ball, as top-seeded Oklahoma softball defeated Missouri 11-0 to advance to the Norman Regional championship final on Sunday.

It was the Sooners’ second straight shutout win in the regional and second straight to end early via run rule. OU defeated Hofstra by the same score, 11-0, in the opening round on Friday.

Oklahoma got on the board with a pair of runs in the opening inning on a two-run double by Sanders, and added three more in the third, the big blow coming on a two-run, home run blast to deep center field by Hansen, her 11th of the season.

Sanders hit a mammouth solo home run over the left-center-field scoreboard in the fifth inning to increase the Sooner advantage to 7-0, and a four-run sixth-inning explosion put the game away and gave OU its 26th run-rule win of the season, the most of any Division I team. The Sooners also lead the nation with 32 wins by shutout.

For the second consecutive game, Oklahoma faced five opposing pitchers. Missouri used three pitchers in the Sooners four-run sixth. OU was extremely efficient on offense scoring 11 runs on 11 hits. Haley Lee, Rylie Boone and Sanders each had a couple of hits in the game for Oklahoma.

Bahl had another masterful performance in the circle, working 5.0 full innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven Missouri hitters. Mizzou’s only hit in the game came on a bouncing ball up the middle by K Daly and just out of the reach of Sooner shortstop Grace Lyons.

Freshman Kiersten Deal came on in relief in the sixth inning for OU and retired the three hitters she faced in order, striking out two of the three.

Missouri’s only real scoring threat in the game came in the fourth inning, when they placed runners on first and third with one out and second and third with two outs but came up empty.

The Sooners extended their nation-best consecutive-game winning streak to 45 games, just two away from tying the NCAA record. They now await the outcome of two elimination games still to be played on Saturday to see who they will face in the Norman Regional final on Sunday.

OU is one more win away from advancing to its 13th consecutive super regional, which again this season will be played in Norman.

Home/OU softball