Oklahoma softball sweeps UCF, moves closer to outright Big 12 crown
By Chip Rouse
Freshman Ella Parker hit a pair of home runs, two of five by the Big 12-leading Oklahoma softball team on the day, as the Sooners defeated Central Florida (UCF) 11-7 in a slugfest on Sunday to sweep the series and move closer to another Big 12 championship.
UCF (28-21, 10-14) gave the No. 2 Sooners all they could handle in this series, showing why they are the best of the three newcomer softball teams to join the Big 12 this season.
The Sooners took Game 1 in the series 10-2 behind pitching ace Kelly Maxwell and edged the Knights 2-1 in a pitching dual on Saturday. The power bats came out in Sunday's series finale as eight balls cleared the fence between the two teams in an 11-7 Oklahoma win. The Sooners (45-4, 21-3) have won seven of the eight Big 12 series they've played with one remaining.
UCF struck first on Sunday with home-run blasts in both the first and second innings off of Oklahoma starter Nicole May, each driving in a pair of runs, The Sooners countered with a two-run home run by Parker, one of two she hit on Sunday.
OU scored four times in the top of the third on just two hits, combining that with two walks, two wild pitches and a fielding error to go in front 6-4. The Sooners scored a solo run in the fourth and four more in the fifth on solo home runs by Parker and Tiare Jennings and a two-run blast by Kinzie Hansen. For Jennings, it was her Big 12-leading 18th of the season. UCF scored once in both the eighth and ninth to finish out the scoring.
Maxwell, the Game 1 winning pitcher, came on in relief of May after two innings on Sunday. The left-handed transfer from Oklahoma State pitched 4.1 innings and allowed two runs on four hits to pick up her second win of the series and 16th of the season to go with one loss.
Jayda Coleman's 33-game on-base streak ended on Saturday when she went 0 for 4, but teammate Jennings extended her on-base string to 28 consecutive games, reaching base on all three games in the series.
The win on Sunday moves Oklahoma's magic number to three to clinch sole possession of a 12th consecutive regular-season Big 12 championship and two to guarantee at least a share of what would be the Sooners 16th Big 12 crown in softball in their final season in the conference.