The Sooners are returning from California with their perfect season still intact and their record-setting winning streak now at 67 games. Oklahoma closed a perfect 5-0 weekend at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic by shutting out Seattle 8-0 and Loyola Marymount 9-0 in run-rule victories on Sunday in Cathedral City.
The top-ranked Sooners improved their season record to 14-0 by flashing both power hitting and dominant pitching. Freshman Ella Parker homered twice and drove in five runs against Seattle. She finished the game going 2-for-5 from the plate with her second and third home runs of the season. Karlie Keeney picked up her second win of the season, allowing just four hits and a walk across 4.2 shutout innings. She struck out five and received plenty of help from her defense as both Jayda Coleman and Rylie Boone each recorded an outfield assist in the early innings. Paytn Monticelli finished out the final four batters of the day following Keeney, striking out three and issuing a lone walk.
Coleman threw out a runner attempting to stretch a single into a double, and also made another magnificent diving catch in the fourth. Boone tallied her first outfield assist of the season one batter prior, hitting her cutoff in Tiare Jennings, allowing the OU shortstop to turn and fire the ball home to retire a Seattle base runner at the plate.
Nicole May was stellar from the circle in OUโs finale. She struck out seven batters over 4.0 hitless innings of work. LMU reached just twice against her, with those runners reaching on an error and a walk. She put away the final 11 batters faced, settling into a rhythm early, to earn her fifth win of the season.
Oklahoma broke that game open early with a five-run second inning that began with Jayda Coleman crushing her first home run of the season. Three batters later, Rylie Boone doubled home Avery Hodge and later scored on a Kasidi Pickering RBI single. Tiare Jennings wrapped up the scoring with a two-run double down the left field line to give the Sooners a 5-0 lead.
Alyssa Brito and Alynah Torres also blasted two-run homers in the fourth and fifth innings respectively, putting Oklahoma in position to earn a second consecutive run-rule win. Kelly Maxwell entered the circle in the bottom of the fifth and sealed the shutout, using a game-ending ground-ball double-play to work around a pair of singles.
Boone and Pickering each went 2-for-3 on the afternoon while Brito reached three times, going 2-for-2 with a walk.
Notes
- The Sooners have now recorded nine shutouts in 2024.
- Oklahomaโs pitching staff is on a 19.1-inning scoreless streak.
- The Sooners hit .378 at the Mary Nutter and outscored their five opponents 43-5.
- Freshman outfielder Kasidi Pickering led OU over the weekend with a .667 (8-for-12) batting average.
- Senior shortstop Tiare Jennings paced the team with nine RBIs while hitting a .500 batting average in her home state of California.
- Senior third baseman Alyssa Brito scored a team-leading seven runs over the weekend.
- Senior outfielder Rylie Boone went 7-for-12 (.583) at the plate during the Mary Nutter.
- Boone went 2-for-3 against Seattle to give the Sooners two multi-hit efforts alongside Parkerโs two-hit game.
Up Next
OU is set to host its home opener at Loveโs Field on Friday, Mar. 1, with a 2 p.m. CT doubleheader against Miami (OH) and Liberty, celebrating the inaugural season of the new home stadium.