Sooners Smash their way to Supers 20-0 – May-McAdoo Shutout!

[OUBeliever56A]

By the time that the game started on Sunday at 1 PM it was a very pleasant day for a softball game. The Sooner softball team seemed to be especially energetic this morning. When they went down to the baseball field (L Dale Mitchell) to warmup and hit, they were loud and having fun riding in the golf carts. When they came out for the early warmups, they were loose and enjoying the day. They looked tremendously good in pre-game warmup as Coach Gasso completed a crisp flat pass to Quincee Lilio for the infielders winning play over the outfielders. Jayda Coleman made a late break on the ball but came up just short and was not able to break up the pass. (Should Jayda talk to Billy Bowman about her defense?)

The lineup was included one tweak as Elam and Brito swapped spots in the batting order (Elam to 5th and Brito to 6th). May was announced as the starting pitcher. I noticed that May was in the bullpen a little longer throwing before coming down the dugout today. (Good thought on someone’s part!)

The game was a bit unusual in that OU was in the visitors dugout on the 1B side of the field and hitting first in the game. After a crisp Star-Spangled Banner performance today (A+ on the vocals), the game was ready to begin as soon as TV decided we could start.

I will admit that I was a little bit uneasy about the first game today. Texas A&M made a nice comeback last night to win over Minnesota late last night. I wondered about momentum and a few other things and how things would work out. I thought the way the Sooners warmed up was good. We got to see a Jordy-sighting in the bullpen before the game. (NO, she did not throw a ball or a pitch!) But it was good to see her in the pen. Hansen looked more agile and ran and worked out with the team which was a good sighting. The vibe was good in the end.

Texas A&M chose Mackenzie Herzog (the 4th year SR and the best ERA, most Ks and lowest BAA) to start the game for the Aggies. The veteran walked J Coleman on five pitches. It went completely downhill from there for Herzog. On the first pitch, Alo hit a scorcher directly at the LF and before she could decide that her first in was not the right decision the ball was bouncing off the wall behind her. Alo could not have hit the ball any harder, just higher. Coleman easily reached third on the Alo singled. Jennings was hit by Herzog on a 2-1 count to load the bases. Lyons plated the first Sooner run on a fly ball to CF to allow J Coleman to score from third. On a 1-1 count after a nice change-up by Herzog, Elam ripped a double to LC that made it to the wall easily. Alo scored and Jennings easily made it to 3rd with Elam moving to 2nd on the outfield relays. OU leads 2-0. Brito hit a squib shot to RF between the 2B and the RF. The 2B got to the ball running away from the infield by the ball dinked off her glove. Jennings scored on the play with Elam moving to 3rd and Brito hustling to 2nd on the throw home. OU up 3-0. On the first pitch again, Johns hit a ball just fair down the 3B line for a double with both Elam and Brito scoring. OU now led 5-0. That was the day for Herzog. 5 runs allowed while retiring 1 batter. Shaylee Ackerman, a junior, was brought into the game. Ackerman walked Boone on 5 pitches to put runners on 1st and 3rd. After a wild pitch that moved both runners up a base, Snow grounded out to second base to plate one more run with Boone moving to 3rd. OU led 6-0. J Coleman singled up the middle to score the Sooner 7th run. On a 1-0 count, Alo hit another rocket a little higher this time as it cleared the LF wall and landed between the scoreboard and the LF bleachers. OU with a big lead, 9-0.

Jennings then got on base in an unusual manner. She swung at a 3rd strike, but the ball was down in the dirt and bounced away from Lee, the A&M catcher. As Jennings ran to first base, Lee’s throw plunked Jennings on the leg and bounded away as Jennings reached first base safely. Lyons then hit a hard grounder at the Aggie third baseman. The ball went right between her legs untouched into LF for the 3rd A&M error in the inning. With runners on 1st and 2nd, Elam hit a line drive just to the left of the LF and a foot or two short of where she started. The LF barely made the catch for the 3rd out of the inning. Only 3 of the runs were earned out of the 9 scored.

It was a great way to open the game. During all that, May had returned to the pen to keep warm. As she took the circle for the bottom of the first, my tension was melted all away about the game. May pitched very well to the dangerous Lee in the first spot and struck her out on a low pitch. Lee was not pleased with herself. May made it two Ks in row as she struck out the second hitter on a 1-2 pitch again swinging. The inning ended on a ground ball to Snow at first base. 14 pitches, 3 outs. OU led 9-0 after 1 inning.

Before the inning started, A&M brought in Kennedy, the freshman lefty to pitch. Brito said hello to Kennedy as she led off with double down the LF line to open the top of the second inning. Brito moved to third on a wild pitch before Johns was hit by the Kennedy to put runners on the corner. Johns stole second without a throw before Boone hit a little looper to 2B for the first out of the inning. Once again, Snow drove in a run on a ground ball to second base with both runners moving up. OU now led 10-0. The A&M lefty then struck out J Coleman on three tough pitches to end the inning.

May went back to the circle in the bottom of the 2nd and posted another 1, 2, 3, inning with her 3rd K of the game and two outs fielded by Jennings.

Alo was walked on 5 pitches to start the top of the 3rd. Coor pinch-ran for Alo. Jennings singled to LF with Alo moving to 3B on the play and Jennings following to 2B on the throw to 3B that should have been to 2B. Lyons singled to LF plating Coor and once again the throw was made to 3B with Jennings basically on the bag which allowed Lyons to move to 2B on the throw. OU led 12-0. Elam popped up to 2B for the 1st out of the inning. Brito followed with a well hit HR to LF to plate 3 Sooners to make the score 14-0. Johns popped to the 2B near the pitcher’s circle and Boone grounded out to short to end the inning.

May allowed a single to RF to the first batter in the bottom of the 3rd. May struck out the next hitter swinging for out #1. The next hitter grounded out to 1B as the runner moved to 2B. Once again Lee walked to the batters box for A&M. In a repeat of the 1sr inning May struck out Lee on a pitch low in the zone but this time on a 3-2 count to end the inning. Great job my May as she recorded her 4th K of the game.

The top of the 4th started with a walk of Snow. J Coleman moved Snow to second on a ground ball to second for the first out. Alo was then plunked by the pitcher to put runners on 1st and 2nd. On a 3-2 count, Jennings added her own HR as she drove in 3 runs to make the score 17-0. A&M removed Kennedy after the Jennings HR and brought in Kayla Poynter to pitch. Lyons and pinch-hitter Nugent were retired to end the inning by Poynter.

May returned in style to the circle in the bottom of the 4th as she struck out Dak on a 2-2 count. May gave up her second hit on a soft single to CF to the next hitter. With the visions of a double play in my head, the next hitter hit a “tailor made” ground ball to Lyons at short and Lyons and Jennings did not disappoint. 6-4-3 Double Play!

The top of the 5th opened with Turiya Coleman (pinch-hitting for Brito) being hit by Poynter. Poynter added Johns to that list as she also hit Johns in the helmet or the bill of the helmet. Boone hit a soft grounder to shortstop and retired for out #1 but she moved up both runners while doing so. Pinch-hitter Grace Green hit a ground ball to second base that was fumbled by the Aggie 2B as T Coleman scored and Johns moved up to 3rd base as Green recorded an RBI. 18-0 Sooners. J Coleman and Alo followed with singles to plate two more runs to make the score 20-0. Jennings and Lyons were retired for the final two outs of the 5th.

The Sooner defense for the bottom of the 5th included T Coleman in LF for Brito and Green for Snow at 1B. Earlier in the game Coor played LF for an inning after pinch running for Alo.

With Macy McAdoo warming up in the bullpen, the fleet SS for A&M entered the lefties batter’s box to be the first hitter in the bottom of the 5th to face May. She hit a soft grounder to Lyons at shortstop. Lyons charged the ball set her feet and fielded the grounder and threw to first in one motion to easily get the first out of the inning. Lyons makes tough plays look so simple. After moving to a 1-1 count on the next batter, Coach Gasso walked to the mound and made the call to McAdoo to enter the game. May was given a huge ovation that included a curtain call for her effort in the circle.

McAdoo promptly tossed the first warmup pitch on the backstop to make things interesting (Bull Durham thoughts were in my head.). With a count of 1-1 that she inherited, McAdoo threw three balls in row to walk her first hitter or record. But her pitches were reasonable pitches. With a 1-0 count on the nest batter, McAdoo threw two straight strikes to move the count to 1-2 and received a big cheer from the sold-out crowd. After 7 pitches she got the batter to ground out to Lyons at SS for a fielder’s choice at second base for the second out of the inning. On a 2-2 count after a foul ball by the batter, McAdoo struck out the batter swinging for the final out of the game. The crowd might have produced their loudest response of the game to the strikeout.

Kudos to McAdoo and to the Sooners for their 20-0 win over the SEC Aggies.

There are many stars from the game for the Sooners but starting with May is a good start. Her 4.1 innings of 2 hit (both singles) and 0 walks with 6 Ks was a huge key to the game. It was a very good sign that McAdoo pitched for the first time since March 18th and recorded two outs confidently after finishing a walk to the first batter she faced.

On offense, the first seven hitters recorded hits and RBIs in the game. The last two spots did score runs in the game and Snow and Green in the #9 spot recorded RBIs. The Sooners tallied 4 doubles and 3 HRs in the game also. The doubles were by J Coleman, Elam, Brito and Johns with the HRs coming from Alo, Jennings and Brito. Brito had 4 RBIs with Alo and Jennings adding 3 RBIs. The Sooners were 12 of 30 for the game for a .400 BA in the game.

The run-rule win was the 37th run-rule game of the season increasing their own record. The 20 runs they scored was the 3rd time they have scored 20 or more runs in this season. The 20-0 run-rule victory was the largest margin of victory in the history of the NCAA D1 softball tourney. The game was also the Sooners 31st shutout of the season which sets a record for the Sooner Program. It was also the 25th time the Sooners had hit 3 or more HRs in a game this season.

It was a great game for the Sooners as they blasted their way into the Super Regionals to host UCF (University of Central Florida) next weekend. UCF is 49-12 and won their regional over Michigan winning all three games that they played.

Boomer Sooner!

[ousbfan]

Post game interview finals game

https://www.msn.com/en-US/news/mlb/watc ... uxbndlbing

[OUBeliever56A]

Thanks for posting this.

[Brisket]

Has anybody read or heard anything about the Aggy starting pitcher who took herself out of the game in the 1st inning? I've never seen anything like it before.

[ousbfan]

Unread post by Brisket » Mon May 23, 2022 12:41 pm
Has anybody read or heard anything about the Aggy starting pitcher who took herself out of the game in the 1st inning? I've never seen anything like it before.

Only thing that was said by the people calling the game on the Espn streaming was that it was strange but it could have been pre-planned in the dugout to change pitchers if the next batter got on base which is what happened.

[RefriedBeans]

According to ESPN the Aggies have notified Jo Evans that they will not renew her contract.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/sto ... s-contract

[TropicalSooner]

Unread post by Brisket » Mon May 23, 2022 12:41 pm
Has anybody read or heard anything about the Aggy starting pitcher who took herself out of the game in the 1st inning? I've never seen anything like it before.

Only thing that was said by the people calling the game on the Espn streaming was that it was strange but it could have been pre-planned in the dugout to change pitchers if the next batter got on base which is what happened.

So, excactly what did she do to take herself out of the game? Did she look into the dugout, wave, and motion for the coach to come out to the circle? Anyone got a video of this?

And, if it was pre-planned, was the relief pitcher warming up in the bull-pen this whole time--even before the game started?

[OUBeliever56A]

Unread post by Brisket » Mon May 23, 2022 12:41 pm
Has anybody read or heard anything about the Aggy starting pitcher who took herself out of the game in the 1st inning? I've never seen anything like it before.

Only thing that was said by the people calling the game on the Espn streaming was that it was strange but it could have been pre-planned in the dugout to change pitchers if the next batter got on base which is what happened.

So, excactly what did she do to take herself out of the game? Did she look into the dugout, wave, and motion for the coach to come out to the circle? Anyone got a video of this?

And, if it was pre-planned, was the relief pitcher warming up in the bull-pen this whole time--even before the game started?

Ackerman and Herzog both warmed up before the game. Ackerman was in the bullpen throwing soon after the top of the 1st started. There was a long meeting on the mound just before she was replaced by just the infield. Then she pitched some more and Ackerman was brought in. Other then the HR Herzog hit against Minnesota on Saturday night, she did not look like she was having fun at all.

[EMan]

So, excactly what did she do to take herself out of the game? Did she look into the dugout, wave, and motion for the coach to come out to the circle? Anyone got a video of this?

And, if it was pre-planned, was the relief pitcher warming up in the bull-pen this whole time--even before the game started?

At the end of a play, she literally just walked off the field and into the dugout. If I remember correctly she had been backing up home on the play, and when time was called she just walked into the dugout and left the game. You couldn't tell on TV if anything was said to her but the coach was NOT on the field when she walked off. Hadn't seen that one before.

[AustinTXSooner]

So if you watch the replay, after Jana Johns double down the line, Evans comes out of the dugout and goes directly to the umpire to make a substitution. Herzog walks off the field when she sees that. The optics are bad, but there was really nothing to that.

If you look at the live stats, it has Ackerman pitching to Johns...she didn't. Herzog pitched to Johns. I don't know who runs StatBroadcast, but they are not reliable. I often have it up while I'm watching a game and they 'misrepresent' events on the field a surprising number of times.

[TropicalSooner]

So, excactly what did she do to take herself out of the game? Did she look into the dugout, wave, and motion for the coach to come out to the circle? Anyone got a video of this?

And, if it was pre-planned, was the relief pitcher warming up in the bull-pen this whole time--even before the game started?

At the end of a play, she literally just walked off the field and into the dugout. If I remember correctly she had been backing up home on the play, and when time was called she just walked into the dugout and left the game. You couldn't tell on TV if anything was said to her but the coach was NOT on the field when she walked off. Hadn't seen that one before.

Wow! Just Wow!