Sooners Softball powerfully "Shows-Me" Missouri an 11-0 Defeat

Forum to discuss the best softball team in the country
Post Reply
OUBeliever56A
Posts: 4501
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2021 6:44 am
2
Location: Norman
Has thanked: 607 times
Been thanked: 2559 times

Sooners Softball powerfully "Shows-Me" Missouri an 11-0 Defeat

Post by OUBeliever56A »

As sometimes happens in the playoffs, OU was the visiting team while still being in their home dugout on Saturday afternoon at 2 PM. The line for the general admission fans at the main entry was out to the road and split both directions along the road in front of Marita Hynes Stadium bu 12 noon a half hour before the gates open. Several other fans were lined up at the outfield gate in HR Village as well by then. The Sooners, clad in their crimson jerseys, wee looking for win #53 and seemed focused a bit more during warmup and pregame. When the starting lineup was announced it was official, Jordy Bahl was starting in the circle for OU. But as the visitor, OU would bat before Bahl would enter the circle.

Jayda Coleman walked to leadoff the game. After a Jennings popup, Haley Lee singled to RF to move Coleman to 2nd base. Hansen popped out to 2B for the second out of the inning. During the Cydney Sanders at bat that followed, Coleman and Lee stole 3rd and 2nd on a pitch down in the dirt that proved to be valuable. Sanders followed that with a hard hit ball just inside the LF line to drive in both runners to give OU a 2-0 lead. Lyons flew out to RF to end the Sooner 1st.

Against the dangerous top three hitters of the Missouri lineup, Bahl set the Tigers down in order on a 6-3, swinging K and a little popup out in front of home plate that Hansen got to on her knees to make the catch as Bahl managed to get around Hansen without keeping Hansen from making the play successfully. It was a nice play by Hansen. On a side note I learned after the game, Bahl and the starting pitching for Missouri, Lauren Krings, had once both played on the Nebraska Gold in summer ball. This probably happens more than we know, but I thought this was interesting.

OU took their 2-0 lead in to the top of the second inning. Krings managed to have a 1, 2, 3 inning against the Sooners. In the bottom of the second inning, Bahl matched her ex-teammate with her second 1, 2, 3 inning on three ground balls to herself at pitcher, Lyons at SS on a play to her right that she just makes look so easy, too easy, and a ground ball to Jennings.

Coleman once again lead off the inning with a walk in the top of the 3rd. Jennings flew out to Cf for the first out. Haley Lee doubled to RC to plate the fleet Coleman from 3B without a through home. While celebrating at 2B, Lee almost slipped or fell off the bag and had a brief moment to be tagged out, but she managed to not do that. 3-0 Sooners lead. Kinzie found a pitch on the inside half about thigh high that she just crushed to add a 2-run HR to the LC Bleachers just to the right of my seats. 5-0 Sooners with authority. The Sooners finished the 3rd with two Ks after a productive inning. In the bottom of the 3rd, Bahl notched her 3rd 1, 2, 3, inning on 3 Ks, one looking and two swinging. Bahl now had 4 Ks in three innings.

In the top of the fourth, a Alyssa Brito single and a Rylie Boone single put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out in the inning. After Boone stole second base on a close play, Coleman hit a fly ball to shallow RF. On the catch, Brito was tagging up and took off for home and was thrown out for a double play to end the inning with OU unable to score. In the bottom of the 4th, Missouri mounted a bit of a rally against OU. Their leadoff hitter, Laird, walked in a 7 pitch at bat. Bahl followed up against the dangerous Honnold with a strikeout looking for the 1st out of the inning. Daly, for Mizzou, then got their only hit of the day on a single up the middle of the diamond that Lyons almost got to, but even if she did it was doubtful there would have been a play to make. Laird managed to make it to 3B on the play however. With runners on 1st and 3rd, Bahl got a soft ground ball down the 3B line that Brito fielded quickly to prevent the runner at 3B to make a move towards home and threw out the runner at 1B easily. Bahl picked up her 6th K of the game on a swinging strike 3 on the next batter.

Tiare Jennings opened the top of the 5th with a single. The hit chased Krings out of the circle as Missouri brought in Schumacher to pitch. Lee hit into a fielder's choice for the 1st out. Lee moved to 2B on a ground ball by Hansen for the second out. Lee then advanced to 3B on a wild pitch before she scored on a second wild pitch with Sanders at the plate. Cydney Sanders then found a ball up in the zone and hit a 'moonshot' over the scoreboard in LF and into the HR Village for the second run of the inning to make the score 7-0. Bahl picked up her 4th 1, 2, 3 inning with a looking strikeout, an ground ball to SS and a lazy fly ball to LF.

In the top of the 6th, with one out, Alynah Torres singled to RF to get things going. Rylie Boone crushed an inside pitch that was foul by 'just a bit' before singling to CF to move Torres to 2B. Coleman then walked for the 3rd time in the game to load the bases. Tiare Jennings then got a sacrifice fly to RF to plate Torres to make the score 8-0 with Boone moving to 3B. Pinch hitter, Sophia Nugent, picked a bruise as she was hit by the pitcher to once again load the bases. Lilio followed with a pinch hit walk to pick up an RBI and keep the bases loaded. Grace Green, as another pinch hitter, then went to RF with a 2 RBI single down the line to plate Coleman and Nugent with Lilio moving to 3B. Avery Hodge was the 4th straight pinch hitter in the inning but she struck out swinging to end the inning. OU's lead was now 11-0 going to the bottom of the 6th and in run-rule territory with a shutout intact.

With three batters due up for Missouri that were left-handed hitters at #9, #1, #2, Oklahoma brought in the freshman Kiersten Deal was given the softball and took the circle to pitch. I really liked this call. Deal, a lefty pitcher, can be very valuable as the season concludes against lefties when called upon as she did in the Big 12 Tourney last weekend. Deal struck out her first batter swinging. Deal followed thay up with a very nice pitch at the hands on the inside corner of the plate on a called third strike for her 2nd K of the inning. Deal ended the game with a soft little popup up to 3B as she jammed the #2 hitter for Missouri.

An 11-0 run-rule shutout for the second game in row, one in 5 innings and one in 6 innings, is a very good way to start the playoff run for the Sooners. The Sooners are now 53-1 and have won 45 games in a row against that one lone loss in the 9th game of the year. They now have picked up 26 run-rule games and 32 shutouts during the year.

Oklahoma has pitched 11 innings in those two games and given up 2 hits with 1 walk and 1 HB. Bahl moved to 16-1 with the win over Missouri and dropped her ERA to 1.10 for the year. Deal has now pitched in nine straight game in which she has pitched without giving up a run. Deal last gave up a run on March 17th.

On offense, Hansen, Sanders and Green picked up 2 RBI hits (Hansen HR, Sanders and Green singles) with Sander adding a solo HR for one more RBI. Lee added an RBI on a double with Jennings picking up a SFLY and Lilio an RBI walk. Coleman scored three runs today. Lee, Sanders and Boone had 2 hits. Another player that has been hitting well is Torres as she is 6 for 12 from the OSU series through today. She has quietly added to the lineup over that time.

For the second game in a row, OU had double digit hits and has had 23 hits in 52 at bats in the regional for a .442 BA. They have added 3 doubles and 4 HRs along with 7 walks and only 5 Ks on the two games. The Sooners also picked up 3 stolen bases a SFLY and a HB today.

In my opinion, the Sooners are playing very well right now. If they can keep this level of play going tomorrow, the Sooners have something very positive going.

As I write this California is leading Missouri 4-0 in the top of the 3rd. if that holds up for California, the Sooners will need to beat each of their three regional opponents this weekend which would be something new the last three years.

I think Storako will get the nod to start the game no matter who OU plays tomorrow at 1:00 PM. I also liked the lineup a bit more today with Lee and Hansen hitting 3rd and 4th. Sanders will probably be in the 5th spot tomorrow also with Brito and Lyons and probably Torres filling the 6th thru 8th spots.

Here is the staff writers article about the win over Missouri.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/5/20 ... onal-final

Good luck to the Sooners tomorrow as they try to finish the regional with one final win at 1 PM.

Boomer Sooner!
Post Reply

Create an account or sign in to join the discussion

You need to be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute

Register

Sign in