Photo credit Ty Russell/OU Athletics
Oklahoma didn’t just defeat Texas Tech on Sunday to secure a series sweep, the Sooners absolutely wrecked the Red Raiders 20-0 in just five innings. Living only off a 2-run home run from Jocelyn Alo in the first inning, OU nursed a 2-0 lead of Tech into the bottom of the fourth before making history.
Sending a total of 23 batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning, Oklahoma would score 18 runs to in an at bat that saw several players go to the plate three times in the frame. Alo and Taylon Snow each knocked in four runs in the inning, with three of Snow’s coming on her second home run of the season and just the fourth of her career. Jana Johns also knocked in three on a home run to right field, her 10th of the season. In all, OU plated 18 runs on 14 hits and an error in the fourth inning to make it the most productive single inning in Oklahoma Softball history and ties for second in NCAA history.
Here are a few more tidbits from Sunday’s massacre of the Red Raiders that you may not be aware of.
• With Sunday’s win total the Sooners outscored the Red Raiders 40-0 in the three-game series, outhitting them 34-8.
• Oklahoma hit two home runs in an inning for the second consecutive game and the 26th time of 2021.
• Sunday’s game was the 19th of the season in which OU has hit three-plus home runs.
• Oklahoma has hit a nation-best 111 home runs on the year, just four behind the 2019 OU team’s 115 program-record mark.
• It was the fifth game this season Oklahoma has put up 20-plus runs.
• Sunday’s contest was OU’s 28th run-rule victory of 2021, recently surpassing the program record for run rules in a season (25, 2019 & 2013).
• Oklahoma brought its shutout tally to 20 on the season, an NCAA best in 2021.
• The Sooners put up 10-plus runs in one inning for the sixth time of 2021.
• Senior Taylon Snow’s second home run of the season in the fourth inning makes it 11 Sooners with multiple home runs in 2021.
• Senior Jocelyn Alo recorded six RBIs Sunday. It was the third time this season a Sooner has batted in six runs, with Tiare Jennings accomplishing the feat twice and now Alo once.
• Sunday’s game marked the third game of Alo’s career with six-plus RBIs (7 vs. Loyola Marymount, March 14, 2019; 6 vs. Texas Tech March 25, 2018).
• Alo leads the country in home runs (24) and RBIs (66). Jennings ranks second in the country with 63 runs batted in and third in home runs (21).
• Nicole Mendes hit her second triple of the season in Sunday’s game, bringing her career triple number to 13, good for third most in program history and just four behind the program-record 17 from Tammy Allard (1979-81).
• Senior Jana Johns hit a home run in her third consecutive game Sunday. It marks the second time in Johns’ career she has accomplished this feat, doing so in all three games of a series at Missouri May 3-5, 2019, in her sophomore season with South Carolina.
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