The Oklahoma softball team appears unbeatable with Sam Landry in the circle. The problem is when she's not.
The Sooners found themselves in a shootout with Wichita State on Wednesday night before Landry finally came in to hold the Shockers and secure OU a 19-16 win.
The two teams combined for 35 runs in the midweek game in Wichita, Kansas, where the wind was blowing about 10 mph throughout the game. For OU, it was the most runs scored since plating 22 against Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 18, 2023.
With Kierston Deal getting the start, the Sooners gave their pitcher an 8-spot in the first frame, the most runs OU has scored in an inning this season, as they batted around the lineup.
Then, Wichita State answered with two solo shots before OU also scored a pair in the second thanks to Gabbie Garcia's two-run homer. Isabela Emerling and Kasidi Pickering added two more long shots in the third.
And that's about how the rest of the game went -- run after run after run. OU had 17 hits and three home runs. The Shockers tallied 14 hits while sending five over the wall.
The Shockers never led thanks to OU's large early lead, but they got within two at the end of the fourth then back to three in the sixth after the Sooners had extended it again.
Landry entered in the fourth with two already on because of back-to-back walks. She ultimately gave up three earned runs in the final four innings to earn her 10th win of the season. It was the first time Landry gave up multiple runs in an outing since her OU debut against San Diego State way back on Feb. 6.
Combined against Wichita State, Deal and Paytn Monticelli allowed 11 runs on eight hits in three innings.
This season, after that three-run outing, Landry has a 1.31 ERA and has been named SEC Pitcher of the Week three times. Deal's ERA is 2.98, while Monticelli sits at 4.02. Monticelli has pitched only 15.1 innings this season.
In 38 innings, Isabella Smith has 2.76 ERA. While battling an injury, Audrey Lowry is at 2.10 in 30 innings. As a team, OU has a 2.33 ERA, which ranks 21st in the country.
The sky is certainly not falling at Love's Field after a loss to Missouri on Saturday then a slug fest with Wichita State. However, if you take away Landry's numbers, OU has a 3.63 ERA from its staff, which would barely be in the top 100 in the country and second-worst in the SEC, only above Auburn.
The Sooners have a powerful enough of a lineup to win a shootout with nearly any other team. And with Landry pitching, run-rules are more the trend with those two forces combined. But the Sooners won't always put across 19 runs, especially against the best pitching in the country when the postseason comes around.
OU is most vulnerable when those shootouts ensue, especially when Landry is on the bench. The lineup finally got cold Saturday, and the Sooners lost 3-1 to Missouri, the only unranked SEC team on their schedule. That was the only game Landry didn't pitch in the series.
The Sooners could try to swing their way to a fifth straight national title, but they don't even have a top-25 lineup right now based on batting average. OU is third in the country with 63 home runs, though.
Patty Gasso will mostly likely wave her wand by June and work her Sooner Magic, but the Sooners have to find at least one more consistent arm before the Women's College World Series to get championship No. 5.