The Sooners played in front of the home crowd, for the first time in 2023, over the weekend and they did not disappoint. Winning all three games of the OU Tournament by a combined score of 39-1. Oklahoma blanked UIC 5-0 on Friday before absolutely laying waste to #16 Kentucky 18-0. On Saturday it was the Wildcats scoring the only run of the weekend against the Sooner battery of arms and stellar defense. UK fell for the second time in two days, this time by a final score of 7-1. The weekend finale against UIC was just a formality as the Sooners sent them back to Chicago with a 9-0 defeat, marking the second run-rule victory of the weekend.
“When you get down to it and you look at the entire weekend, I think we outscored our opponents 32-1,” Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso said after the game against UIC on Saturday. “I mean that’s a dominant performance… They cleaned everything up.”
By “cleaned everything up,” Gasso was referring to the weekend opener where OU went the distance (all seven innings) against winless UIC for a 5-0 victory. Oklahoma’s bats were a bit silent in that game but even so, the pitching was brilliant. Nicole May pitched all seven innings, allowing just two hits and striking out 11 batters in a shutout performance. It was the type of game that showed this OU squad can beat you in a number of ways and not just with power from the plate.
The Most Dominant Battery In The Nation
Why is Oklahoma the best team in the nation? Because there isn’t a player in their lineup that doesn’t have home run power and you have to face a battery of pitchers who could be the ace on just about any roster in the nation. May picked up two wins on the weekend, opening and closing the tournament with shutout victories, over UIC. She’s sporting a perfect 0.00 ERA on the season and has built a 5-0 record. While most programs have one ace, maybe two if you’re lucky, the Sooners have three ladies in the circle with five wins each on the season. Alex Storako was nearly perfect on Friday night with a no-hit performance against Kentucky. She retired 15 of the 16 batters that she faced with the only mistake being a hit by pitch. It was the second no-hitter for Oklahoma’s staff this season!
Saturday was Jordy Bahl’s turn to face the Wildcats and she became Oklahoma’s third winning pitcher over the weekend, taking a 7-1 victory in which she fanned four batters and allowed just six hits.
Relentless Lineup
Power and speed are no stranger to Oklahoma’s batting order and that was on full display over the weekend. There is no break in this lineup for opposing pitchers and there was no better demonstration than the the fourth inning of Friday’s game against Kentucky. Already leading 7-0 going into the frame, the Sooners posted 11 runs to turn a potential blowout into an absolute rout. OU blasted five home runs in that inning alone. In all, Oklahoma batters went yard 17 times during the four-game weekend and for the second weekend in a row we say Kinzie Hansen go yard twice in the same game, including a Grand Slam in the bottom of the second against Kentucky on Friday night.
No Time To Relax
Oklahoma heads back out on the road this coming weekend for the Bulldog Invitational, hosted by Mississippi State, in Starkville, Mississippi. The Sooners will face a Bulldog team, that hosted a Super Regional last spring and were ranked 23rd in last week’s poll, twice during the weekend. Mississippi State is 16-5 on the season and went 4-1 last weekend. The latest polls have not been released yet.
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