Patty Gasso said earlier in the week that she was working to “fine tune” her squad ahead of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. If Friday night was any indicator, then her mission was accomplished. The Sooners overcame an early deficit to No. 20/25 Mississippi State to record a 9-3 win, and then defeated Wisconsin in run-rule fashion (10-2) in the nightcap.
OU didn’t take the lead against the Bulldogs until the bottom of the bottom of the second. Trailing 3-2, the Sooners produced singles from Ella Parker and Avery Hodge, putting two left fielder Rylie Boone, who smoked an RBI double down the right field line to plate Parker, then Jayda Coleman brought home Hodge to give Oklahoma a one-run lead.
Oklahoma went on to add another run in the third, two more in the fourth, and then two more in the fifth as they established a dominant lead over a Mississippi State squad that was just a week removed from recording two Top 10 upsets, and was statically very close to Oklahoma in just about every category.
Kinzie Hansen got the Sooners on the board in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run home run that evened the score at 2-2. However, the Bulldogs would regain the lead in the top of the second but that would ultimately be their final run scored.
From the circle, Nicole May earned her fourth win after tossing 4.0 innings. She was responsible for all three of Mississippi State’s runs, and she struck out four batters. In relief, SJ Geurin issued a lone walk and faced the minimum among her five batters faced by inducing a double-play ball. Kelly Maxwell closed things out, striking out four to account for each of her four outs and working around a pair of walks.
The Sooners followed their Top 25 clash against Mississippi State by run-ruling Wisconsin in a game that went into the early hours of the morning for fans watching back at home. Oklahoma took an early 2-0 lead before the Badgers tied things up by scoring a single run in each of the third and fourth innings. However, the Sooners exploded for eight runs in the bottom half of the fourth to put the game in run-rule territory. Wisconsin couldn’t answer in the top of the fifth, inducing the run-rule and ending the came with a final score of 10-2.
Nine different Sooners reached base against Wisconsin. Six different batters recorded an RBI, led by Kasidi Pickering’s two runs batted in. Eight different Sooners scored a run, with Pickering and Ella Parker scoring two each.
Kelly Maxwell went four innings from the pitching circle, allowing two runs, and then Karlie Keeney retired three of four in a scoreless fifth inning to finish off the Badgers.
Notes
- Against Mississippi State, Tiare Jennings moved into second all-time in career RBIs at OU with the 255th of her career.
- Β Both Nicole May and Kelly Maxwell earned their fourth wins of the season.
- OUβs bullpen extended its scoreless inning streak to 27.1 innings to open the year.
- Kinzie Hansen’s home run against Mississippi State pulled her to within two of Sydney Romero (54) for eighth on OUβs all-time list.
- Oklahoma pushed its NCAA-record winning streak to 64 games with the doubleheader sweep.
Up Next
OU plays its third game of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic on Saturday, Feb. 24, with a 2:30 p.m. CT start against San Diego State. The game will be broadcast on FloSoftball and 1560AM/103.3 FM The Franchise 2.
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