Sooner Nation relished yet another Bedlam softball victory

As if Sooner Nation needed a reminder, the Oklahoma Sooners have the best college softball team in the state.

The Sooners run-ruled the Oklahoma State Cowgirls 11-3 on Wednesday night at Devon Park in Oklahoma City in the only scheduled Bedlam game of the season. With the win, the No. 2 Sooners own what is clearly a softball state, which was proven by an NCAA record crowd of 9,259.

Oklahoma fans celebrate Sooners' win over Oklahoma State Cowgirls

It was a nerve-racking start for Sooner Nation, though. The No. 18 Cowgirls jumped to an early 3-0 lead as OU played sloppy softball. The Sooners had two errors in the first inning, giving OSU a pair of early runs. The Cowgirls then added another in the third to take a 3-0 lead.

Kasidi Pickering finally got OU on the board with a two-run bomb in the bottom of the third. While Pickering's homer put the Sooners back in the game, the fourth inning put it away.

The Sooners tallied five runs in the fourth inning. They took their first lead of the night when Maya Bland hit a three-run homer, making the count 5-3.

Ella Parker then singled in McEnroe-Marinas, and Gabbie Garcia doubled to score Parker.

The Sooners then scored four more in the fifth inning to complete the run-rule and send the record crowd home early. The final dagger was Garcia's single up the middle to score McEnroe-Marinas.

It was revenge for the Sooners after losing the final Big 12 three-game series between the rivals last year. The Cowgirls won the first two games of that series at Love's Field before OU finally took Game 3 to avoid a sweep.

However, OU still leads the all-time series by a substantial 105-74 margin.

Outside of bragging rights, it should also be a confidence boost for the Sooners. OU improved to 35-3 but had lost three of its last six SEC games. Now, after a week break from conference play, the Sooners will head to No. 23 Alabama on a four-game winning streak for another SEC weekend series.

As the Sooners seemed to have gotten their swagger back Wednesday night, so did Sooner Nation with the return of state bragging rights, especially former OU players.