BYU Series Recap/ Tulsa Preview

By Taylor Thomas

Oklahoma Softball got back on the winning track this past weekend against a very talented BYU Cougars team as they took the series two games to one at Love’s Field as the Sooners were welcomed back home by the fans in a big way. After being challenged by Patty Gasso during the week after the mid-week victory against Wichita State, her team responded to their coaches comments on Thursday night in Game 1 as OU secured the 8-0 run rule victory before dropping an uncharacteristic Game 2 Friday Night, then bouncing back and earning a 7-3 victory in the rubber game to secure the series victory. We will once again recap the weekend here as well as preview the matchup this Tuesday, April 16th at Hall Of Fame Stadium with in-state foe Tulsa. 

As mentioned previously, the OU fan base showed up and showed out in a big way on Thursday Night in Game 1 as Kelly Maxwell got the start in the circle for the Sooners. Once again, the Sooner offense used the power of the longball in this contest as Jayda Coleman stepped up with two outs in the second inning, driving a ball over the wall in left field for a three run shot to give the Sooners a 3-0 lead. Freshman Kasadi Pickering got in on the action one inning later, slugging a home run out to left center field and followed it up in her next at bat with an RBI single in the 5th to extend the lead to 5-0. Maxwell was dominate all night long, surrendering just one hit and striking out five in the five inning run-rule victory after Cydney Sanders blasted a three run shot in the bottom of the 5th inning to secure the walk-off, run-rule victory. 

As everyone knows by now, the success that took place on Thursday night definitely did not carry over to Game 2, as BYU upset the No. 2 ranked Sooners 9-4, marking the first Big 12 Conference loss at home since April 23, 2017. Credit to this talented BYU team for doing so, as they now hold a victory over both OU and OSU, who currently sit at No. 2 and No. 6 in the country as the Cougars now sit at 22-19 on the year facing some very tough competition. A name that Sooner fans will be glad to see out of Norman now is the all-world shortstop Aliana Agbayani, who went 4-5 in the Game 2 victory with two doubles and two RBI as she raised her .425 season average and looks poised to become the schools first Big 12 All-Conference member. Mistakes were costly in this one for the Sooners, as overall the offense left ten runners on base, committed two costly errors that extended the BYU lead late, and were doubled off on the basepaths twice. Coupled with all of these mistakes and an outstanding approach at the plate from the BYU lineup led to the Sooners losing their second home game at Love’s Field as Kate Dahle closed out the offense throwing the final two scoreless innings to secure the upset victory.

In what was a not so familiar rubber game in conference play, Oklahoma looked much like the team of old, handling business 7-3 on Saturday afternoon behind the arm of Kelly Maxwell once again. With Kierston Deal and Karlie Keeney seeing extended action the previous night, Patty Gasso and Jen Rocha gave the ball to Maxwell for her second start on the weekend, and the senior delivered yet again. In her second outing of the weekend, she fired her second complete game victory going all seven innings with six strikeouts and three runs allowed, two of which came late in the 7th inning that made the score look a bit closer. While on offense things still were not clicking, as the team left eleven runners on base in the contest, the bat of Alyssa Brito came through each time around as she went 3-4 with a double and a huge three run bomb in the 5th inning that made the score 6-1. On the day, Brito was clutch as she finished with 4 RBI and was the offensive presence that the team needed on a tough weekend like this. After taking down this BYU team, the Sooners now sit at 38-4 on the season as they continue on in the month of April.

Tuesday Night, the Sooners will return to their home away from home, Hall Of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City for their final midweek tilt of the season against an upstart Tulsa Golden Hurricane team that comes in with a 27-14 record and a 12-6 record in American Conference play. Tulsa will look for their second big in-state victory of the season, as last month they took down No. 6 Oklahoma State 3-0 in T-Town before dropping their next contest against OSU a few weeks ago by a score of 3-2. With other key wins already this season over a Top 25 Texas State team, expect an outstanding fight from the Golden Hurricane on Tuesday. On paper, Tulsa has an incredible offense to the tune of a .325 team average and are led by MacKenzie Denson, who is leading the team with a .411 average and only 7 strikeouts in 141 at bats this season. Tulsa is an aggressive club, having stolen 63 bases on the season with four different players in the lineup having over ten stolen bases as Haley Morgan and Imani Edwards both led the team with 15 a piece. In the circle, Kylee Nash leads the team with a 2.90 ERA in 68.1 innings, and is followed up by the team leader in strikeouts in Maura Moore, who has recorded 92 K’s in her 103.2 innings of work this year to go along with a 3.91 ERA. With a scrappy offense and solid arms, expect this in-state battle to be a dogfight as first pitch is scheduled for 6pm CT this Tuesday, April 16th and can be found again on ESPN+.