Softball: Record Breaking In Lubbock/UT Arlington Preview

By Taylor Thomas

Another weekend down for Oklahoma Softball, and another record down. In what was their final Big 12 road trip to Lubbock, Texas, the Oklahoma Sooners had to battle some unforgiving weather on their way to another weekend sweep, where they outscored Texas Tech 40-3. Breaking records is of course something we have grown accustomed to being fans of the softball team, but this past weekend was truly one to remember as we saw two different individuals move up the all-time list in program history with Tiare Jennings moving into a tie with Sydney Romero with 58 career doubles, along with Patty Gasso becoming the first coach in any sport to win 400 career Big 12 Conference games. We will look back at the historic weekend as the Sooners return home to prepare for a Wednesday night matchup against UT Arlington. 

Tiare Jennings had a career night in Game 1 as she tied her record mark of six RBI as she homered twice and recorded her 57th double of her career. Jennings has been a thorn in the side of the Red Raiders as she now has eight home runs against Tech in her Sooner career. Kinzie Hansen battled an illness earlier in the week, but still managed to send a solo shot to right field in the second inning that was followed up by the first of two home runs on the night for Tiare. The score remained 6-0 in favor of OU until the top of the seventh when the Sooners put the game out of reach with an eight run inning highlighted by a three-run blast for Jennings. The Oklahoma offense set a school record in the performance, drawing a game-high thirteen walks as a team. Kelly Maxwell was dominant again as she struck out ten Red Raiders in her six innings of work while giving up just two hits. Paytn Monticelli was given the ball to close things out and recorded two punchouts in the seventh to give OU an 11-0 victory. 

In demoralizing fashion, Oklahoma put up twelve runs on the scoreboard in the first inning before Texas Tech could record the first out as the Sooners cruised to a 15-2 run rule victory. It was a dominant performance on offense again as every OU hitter that came to the plate either scored or reached base as Ella Parker, Tiare Jennings and Rylie Boone all put up multiple RBI. Kierston Deal was in the circle for the second game of the series as the sophomore giving up two solo shots in just over three innings of work. The Sooners recorded eight walks as an offense in Game 2 and used the mistakes as the freshman duo of Parker and Kasadi Pickering continued to show off their elite hitting ability, combining for four hits and six RBI in the victory. Karlie Keeney replaced Deal in the circle with one out in the fourth and sat down five of the six batters she faced as Oklahoma ran away with the victory. 

Rounding out the weekend, we saw Patty Gasso etch her name into the record books yet again as she became the first coach in any sport in Big 12 history to win 400 conference games as the Sooners completed the three-game sweep in an 11-1 victory. Yet again, we saw an offensive explosion in the 6th inning be used to pull away from the talented Red Raider squad. Alyssa Brito fired up the dugout sending a two-run shot over the wall in the 5th to give OU a 5-1 lead, and then used the glove in the next inning to snag a line drive at third base that will definitely be seen on highlight reels all season long. Nicole May was given the ball to close out the weekend, and she followed suit striking out six in six innings of work to pick up her ninth victory of 2024. Capping off the game and another historic weekend was Tiare Jennings, as she sent a three-run home run that cleared both fences in center field to highlight the big seventh inning as Oklahoma gave Coach Gasso some more history by the final score of 11-1. 

Oklahoma returns home this Wednesday night for a 6pm CT start against the Lady Mavericks of the University of Texas-Arlington at Love’s Field. It will be the first matchup between the two programs in just over three years as the Sooners took the last matchup in March of 2021 by a score of 14-0. The Lady Mavs come into the matchup with a 10-16 record with the Sooners being their sixth opponent from a Power Five conference. On offense, UTA is led by a familiar face in Texas transfer, Camille Corona who comes in with a .403 average. The senior has transitioned nicely in the move north from Austin and looks to be the driving force in the batter's box. In the circle, the Mavericks boast four different arms having logged over thirty innings of work and are led by junior Jessica Adams, who comes in with a team-leading 2.79 ERA over 42.2 innings of work. Adams is definitely aggressive with her approach as she only has sixteen strikeouts, so expect the Sooners to hunt their pitches early on if we do in fact see the junior in the circle. You can catch all of the action again under the lights on Wednesday, March 20th at 6pm CT on ESPN+ as the Sooners look for their twenty-eighth victory of the season.