Oklahoma faced true adversity for the first time this season as the Sooners needed a fifth inning rally in Friday’s second game of the Hall of Fame Tournament in Oklahoma City. After dismantling Houston in the first contest OU struggled to find its offensive rhythm in the rain-delayed second contest of the day.
With the first pitch from Shannon Saile coming right around 12:30 in the afternoon, the Sooners faced Houston for the third time in less than three weeks. All three meetings would end up with OU walking off the field as winners and Friday delivered the second run-rule result of the three meetings. Saile pitched three innings, allowing no hits and striking out five Cougar batters, to earn the win.
Oklahoma got rolling offensively when Grace Green took a swing at the first pitch she saw on the day. He two-run home run sparked a five run bottom of the first inning with the Sooners adding two more in the second and two more again in the fourth on their way to a 9-1 run-rule win.
It was the second game of the day that provided all of the drama for Oklahoma. Kansas City’s Mia Hoveland kept the Sooner offense off the board through four innings and a 2-run homer off the bat of Delainey Fenoglio in the top of the second had Oklahoma fans just a little nervous. Fortunately “G” Juarez wasn’t phased by the home run and continued to have a strong showing from the circle. Juarez pitched the complete game, allowing just three hits and giving up the two runs while striking out six batters, to improve her season record to 7-0.
The run support finally arrived for Juarez in the fifth inning when two runners came in on a Grace Green single up the middle. A Tiare Jennings double to right field scored another and then Jocelyn Alo went deep to left center field to complete a five-run fifth inning.
The Sooners added another insurance run in the sixth when Jennings sent a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Nicole Mendes, but the game was never in jeopardy again after the fifth inning as Oklahoma improved to 20-0 on the season with a 6-2 win.
The Sooners are back in action again on Sunday when they face Liberty in a double header.
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