The names change. The jersey numbers change. Even the venue changes from time to time. However, the results seem to stay the same. Oklahoma wins and they win big. That was the case once again on Sunday as redshirt freshman SJ Geurin, backed by a stout defense, guided the top-ranked Sooners to their sixth shutout victory. After sweeping through the field at the Cowgirl Challenge, OU now sits at 9-0 on the season, with just seven runs allowed to opponents.
Six of the nine victories have been shutouts and four of them have been by way of the run-rule. Both of those were the case on Sunday, as Jayda Coleman drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the fifth to end the game against Central Arkansas with a final score of 8-0. Coleman was also instrumental towards Oklahoma’s defensive effort as well, making a spectacular play where she ran down a fly ball to left-center then threw a rope to home plate, while on the run, to catch the runner from third attempting to score.
Tiare Jennings and Ella Parker helped to power Oklahoma’s offense by blasting home runs. Jennings crushed a first-pitch two-run home run out to center, pushing the Sooner lead to 6-0. She was followed up three batters later when Parker launched a solo shot to deep center field for her first collegiate home run.
The big story for this game, though, was pitching and hitting. The Sooners put a total of three pitchers in the circle and they combined to allow just one hit. Paytn Monticelli drew her first Sooner start and threw 2.0 scoreless innings. She was relieved in the third by Geurin, and then Kelly Maxwell closed it by recording the final out. Geurin retired each of the eight batters she faced. She struck out a pair and threw 22 strikes on 34 pitches (64.7%) to earn her first college win.ย
Up Next
OU is off to California next. On Friday they’ll begin the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City. The Sooners begin play with Mississippi State and will also face Wisconsin, San Diego State, Seattle and Loyola Marymount over the course of the tournament.
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