Six home runs accounted for 13 of the 17 combined runs on Sunday as top-ranked Oklahoma defeated Arkansas 10-7 and completed a series sweep of the 15th-ranked Razorbacks.
With the series sweep at Bogle Park in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Oklahoma improved to 26-0 overall and 6-0 in the Sooners' first season in the SEC. OU is the only remaining unbeaten team in Division-I softball.
Freshman Gabbie Garcia hit a pair of home runs for the Sooners and Nelly-McEnroe-Marinas drove in three runs with a long blast on Sunday in a slugfest between two high-powered offenses. Garcia and McEnroe-Marinas accounted for eight of Oklahoma's 10 runs in the game.
NCAA home-run leader Bri Ellis launched a pair of home runs for Arkansas on Sunday and former Texas Longhorn Courtney Day hit a three-run round-tripper in the first inning to give the Razorbacks a quick 3-0 lead. Oklahoma erased the deficit the next inning, putting up a six-spot behind long balls from Garcia and McEnroe-Marinas. OU never trailed after that.
Friday night's opening game was postponed due to inclement weather and moved to Saturday as part of a doubleheader. Sooner ace Sam Landry pitched a complete-game 7-0 shutout in Game 1 on Saturday. She faced 23 batters, two over the minimum, allowing three hits, striking out four and walking one to earn her seventh win of the season. It was OU's ninth shutout of the season and Landry's third.
The final score of the opening game on Saturday belied how close the game was. A solo first-inning home run by McEnroe-Marinas put the Sooner up 1-0, and that is how the score remained until the top of the ninth.
Oklahoma scored six times on five hits in the seventh to complete the Sooner scoring. Landry retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to finish out the complete game.
Game 2 of Saturday's double dip was the closest of the three-game series. OU trailed Arkansas 4-3 after five innings.
Kasidi Pickering homered for OU, tying the score in the top of the sixth, and pinch-hitter Sydney Barker drew a bases-loaded walk later in the inning to give the Sooners their first lead in the game, 5-4.
OU added an insurance run in the seventh on a single by McEnroe-Marinas, driving in Maya Bland. Kiersten Deal started the game and went four innings, giving up four runs on five hits and striking out five.
Isabella Smith pitched the fifth inning and was awarded the win, her seventh of the season, and Landry closed out the final two innings for her second save.
The four-time defending national champions Sooners will play East Texas A&M at Love's Field on Wednesday, then travel to Columbia, Missouri, over the weekend for a three-game SEC series with former Big 12 foe Mizzou (16-13, 0-3).
A few other notable things we observed from the weekend series at Arkansas
- With six home runs over the weekend, Oklahoma now has 54 on the season and has homered in 24 of 26 games. The Sooners' 54 home runs ranks third in Division-I softball.
- With three hits on Sunday, OU freshman shortstop Gabbie Garcia has hit safely in 12 consecutive games. Her nine home runs leads the Sooners.
- Nelly McEnroe-Marinas hit a three-run home run in the second inning of OU's 10-7 win on Sunday. It was her third three-run dinger of the season. She hit a pair of three-run home runs in the same game last weekend against South Carolina.
- The Sooners have eight wins over ranked teams this season and are now 28-2 against Arkansas all-time.
- Oklahoma scored six runs in an inning twice in the Arkansas series. The Sooners have done so four different times this season,