A highly partisan home crowd announced at 4,444 was in attendance at the game and witnessed the Sooners' 23rd win against just three losses in Super Regional games contested in Norman. The Sooners are now a win away from going back to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City for the 18th time under Patty Gasso.
"It's definitely not something Oklahoma just does," Gasso said in her postgame interview about another trip to the WCWS.
"There's a fight going on between Alabama and ourselves trying to get to the World Series," Gasso said. "Getting the first (victory in a series) we say, 'Put it in your pocket and just get after it. Get that second one done.'"
In the history of NCAA softball postseason, teams that won the first game of a best-of-three series won the series 80% of the time. However, OU also won Game 1 against Alabama in their regular-season meeting before losing the series.
Odd are in Sooners' favor to go back to WCWS
It was Oklahoma's 14th shutout win of the season and second of the postseason as the Sooners evened the season series with Alabama at two wins apiece. Two of Oklahoma's seven losses this season came on the road in a regular-season series against the Crimson Tide.
The Sooners (49-7) broke up a scoreless game Friday with a two-run home run to deep centerfield by Kasidi Pickering in the third inning, her 18th of the season, to give Oklahoma a 2-0 lead. Landry did the rest, allowing no runs on just four hits and striking out five Bama hitters in getting her 23rd win of the season and second against Alabama. The Louisiana transfer allowed three hits in a 5-1 complete-game win over the Crimson Tide in April.
Scoring first has been a big part of the Sooners' success this season. OU is 35-2 when it scores the first run in the game.
Alabama starter Jocelyn Briski allowed just six hits in five innings, with six different Oklahoma players contributing. Briski was charged with the loss, her 13th to go with 17 wins this season.
The Sooners added an insurance run in the fifth when freshman Sydney Barker singled home Abigale Dayton for OU's third run.
The second game of the Norman Super Regional series will be at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPN. An Oklahoma win will send the four-time defending national champion back to the Women's College World Series.
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