Record-Setting Sweep & Wichita State Preview

By Taylor Thomas

Another weekend down for the No.1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners, and yet another record has been broken. In a highly anticipated Top 20 matchup, the Sooners left no doubt in the Big 12 standings as they completed the three game sweep this past weekend against the Baylor Bears, who came in ranked No.19 in the country. Friday started all of the weekend fireworks as just under 9,000 fans filled up Hall Of Fame Stadium for the first game of the series. In total on the weekend, a record attendance of 17,469 fans came out to see this huge series and between the first game at Hall Of Fame and the final two at Love’s Field, set an Oklahoma Softball single series record for attendance. Now, the Sooners will prepare for what should be a very good mid-week matchup this Tuesday, March 26th on the road at Wichita State. 

What was the beginning of the record crowd started on Friday Night under the lights at Hall Of Fame Stadium, and the play on the field definitely gave the fans a show. Once again, it was Tiare Jennings who led the way at the plate as she finished a triple shy of the cycle and passed Sydney Romero to move into first in Sooner history with her 59th double of her career. Rylie Boone scratched across the first run of the game on a single in the second inning before Baylor responded back with an RBI single in the fourth off of starter Kelly Maxwell. Both RyLee Crandall and Maxwell threw extremely well and were the main reasons on why it was such a tight contest. Enter Tiare Jennings in the bottom of the fifth, as she sent the third pitch of the at bat over the wall in right center field that ignited the record crowd and gave OU a 3-1 lead. The big inning would continue on an RBI walk by Riley Ludlam before one of the hottest hitters in the country, Alynah Torres, stepped up to the plate and iced things with a pinch-hit grand slam that extended the lead to 8-1. Paytn Monticelli got the ball in relief and fired a scoreless final 1.2 innings and secured the Game 1 victory. 

Game 2 of the series was back at Love’s Field and was dominated by the longball. Nicole May took the ball in the circle and impressed yet again as she struck out 7 over her 5 innings to move to 10-0 on the season. Jayda Coleman started the scoring off with a two run blast to center into what Chris Plank has named “Gasso’s Garden”. An inning later, Alyssa Brito one-upped Coleman and sent a ball OUT of the stadium over both fences in center field to extend the lead to 3-0. Baylor answered back on home runs by two Oklahoma natives on Carl Albert standout Zadie Lavalley’s two run home run and was followed up by the Deer Creek standout Emily Hott’s solo shot to make it 5-3. Oklahoma would end things early in the 5th inning as Riley Ludlam got in on the action with a two run shot and a Tiare Jennings RBI single that made it 8-3 and loaded the bases for freshman Ella Parker. As she walked to the plate, a feeling of excitement came over the crowd, and the freshman delivered and sent a walk-off grand slam to left field and secured the 12-3 run rule victory. 

Game 3 was moved up to Saturday due to impending weather and was made the second part of the doubleheader on Saturday. Kierston Deal got the start in the final game and was able to work around some command issues early as she allowed just one earned run in her four innings of work. Oklahoma saw RyLee Crandall for the second time on the weekend, and it showed early as Ella Parker wasted no time in the first inning driving in Jayda Coleman on an RBI single. Alyssa Brito sent another Brito Bomb to center field into the garden in the third inning to give OU a 3-0 lead, while Alynah Torres stayed hot and blasted a solo shot to make the score 4-1. Tiare Jennings would hit the third Sooner home run in as many innings as she hit a rocket of a line drive that may have broken the new bleachers in the left field stands. Karlie Keeney would relieve Deal and pitch a perfect 1.2 innings before giving way to Kelly Maxwell, who was able to work out of some early trouble after giving up three runs and responded with a scoreless seventh inning and secured the sweep, moving Oklahoma to a 31-1 record on the year. 

Wichita State has been a very familiar opponent in recent years and under Head Coach Kristi Bredbenner have become a staple in the postseason, reaching five NCAA Regionals in her 13th season in Wichita, Kansas. In 2021, the Shockers played in the Norman Regional and appeared in the regional final before ultimately falling to Oklahoma. When talking about the Shockers, we must start in the outfield with Addison Barnard. The senior will go down as arguably the best player in Wichita State history as she is the current record holder in home runs, RBI, single season home runs and single season RBI. Barnard is easily a Top 10 player in the country and is well on her way to another First-Team All American selection in 2024. Barnard comes into this matchup as one half of the dynamic duo in the lineup with CC Wong, who holds a .500 average and 10 home runs in eighty-six at bats so far this season. The duo accounts for almost half of the teams home runs this season, both having slugged 10 each so far and will surely give the Sooners some trouble in this road matchup. In the circle, the trio of Chloe Barber, Allison Cooper, and Alex Aguilar help bolster a pitching staff with all three having over forty-five innings under their belt. Barber leads the way with a 3.25 ERA and eighty strikeouts in 51.2 innings this year. Just a freshman, Barber has looked as advertised in Wichita, so expect to see her in some capacity tomorrow as the Shockers look for the upset. Once again, you can catch all of the action tomorrow on ESPN+ with the first pitch from Wilkins Stadium set for 6pm CT.