Photo credit Ty Russell/OU Athletics
The process was a bit different for Oklahoma on Saturday but the end result was the same as the Sooners sent Texas to the locker room early with a run-rule defeat. On Friday night it was a walk-off home run that ended the game the Sooners used a walk-off single to secure the series with back-to-back run-rule wins over the 7th-ranked Longhorns.
OU sent all nine batters to the plate in the top of the first, scoring four runs off a pair of doubles from Kinzie Hansen and Jayda Coleman and a pair of singles from Lynnsie Elam and Taylon Snow.
Texas got on the board in the top of the third on a controversial home run by Janae Jefferson who hit the ball off the top of the wall in left center field. The ball bounced back in play but the officials ruled it a home run anyway. Elam struck again in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run shot to left field that not only erased the home run by Jefferson in the top half of the inning but also increased Oklahoma’s lead to 6-1.
The Sooners and Longhorns swapped home runs again for the next two scores. Shannon Rhodes went deep to center field in the top of the fifth for the Longhorns but before that Tiare Jennings delivered her 19th home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth.
The Sooners approached the plate in the bottom of the fifth with a 7-2 lead and just three runs shy of a second consecutive run-rule win over the Longhorns. Snow hit an RBI single up the middle to score Elam, making it an 8-2 Sooner lead, and then three batters later Tiare Jennings sent a sac-fly to right field that scored Snow and put the Sooners another run closer.
Not wanting to risk Jocelyn Alo sending the ball to the moon, Texas made the decision to walk her and load the bases again. The hopeful payoff was that Kinzie Hansen would hit into a double play and end the frame. Instead Hansen popped up to second base and the runners held. That would bring up Grace Lyons, with two outs, and the chance to be the hero. Lyons responded to the situation by ripping an 0-1 pitch up the middle that scored Jana Johns and brought the game to an end with a 10-2 victory.
Shannon Saile went the distance for OU from the circle. Despite some control issues that led to an abnormally high six walks she still fanned seven Texas batters and improved her season record to 9-0.
Oklahoma’s win secured the series victory for the Sooners and extended the winning streak against the Longhorns to 20 games. OU improved to 8-0 in Big 12 play and 32-0 on the season. The Sooners will be going for a sweep on Texas on Sunday afternoon at 4:00. The game will be televised on ESPN 2.
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