By Taylor Thomas
After weather postponed the mid-week matchup in Wichita on Tuesday (five minutes after my previous article was posted), the Oklahoma Sooners will instead head a few hours northeast in the Sunflower State for a three game series against the upstart Kansas Jayhawks as they continue on into Big 12 Conference play. While many do not think about softball when they first think of the university that sits just under forty miles outside of Kansas City, this Jayhawks softball program should definitely be mentioned throughout the nation, and that has already begun has they will enter this matchup ranked 24th in the latest ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 Poll. This will be the first time in the history of the matchup that both the Sooners and the Jayhawks will be ranked inside the Top 25, so expect some extra juice inside the stadium this weekend when the No. 1 ranked Sooners come to town.
In what is now her sixth season, Head Coach Jennifer McFalls has anchored quite the turnaround so far in her time in Lawrence. McFalls might be a familiar name to some diehard softball fans, as she served as an assistant coach under Patty Gasso at Oklahoma in 1998, before becoming an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Texas from 2011-2018. Kansas has improved on its record in each season under McFalls tenure, and they are well on their way to smashing that mark again in 2024 as Kansas enters the matchup with a 22-8-1 record. The Jayhawks have been playing their best softball as of late, coming off of back to back three game sweeps of No.19 Baylor and Houston in conference play, while also having a victory over No. 18 Texas A&M. Lyric Moore is back in Lawrence again and has been a huge key to the success of the program as she leads the team this season with five home runs to go along with a .307 average. Campbell Bagshaw and Hailey Cripe have had stellar years to follow up Moore, with both currently hitting above .300 and a combined 47 RBI between the two. Westmoore product Aynslee Linduff will also have some added motivation in this one and has looked very good defensively in her thirty starts this year, and will surely want to make an impact against her hometown team. In the circle is where this Kansas group really shines, and that effort is spearheaded by Katie Brooks and Kasey Hamiliton. The duo has accounted for 84 percent of the teams innings this season, so expect much of the same from these two aces. Brooks enters with just slightly better numbers, holding a 1.89 ERA across 74 innings this season. Hamilton has incredible numbers as well as she enters with a 2.28 ERA in 101.1 innings. Something I expect Oklahoma to focus on is the command issues for these two pitchers, as Brooks has walked 46 hitters while Hamilton has 37 walks to her name. Like always, expect JT Gasso to have his detailed plan ready to go for what should be a phenomenal road test.
With the series being Thursday-Saturday, myself and the rest of us that make up Sooner Nation will be able to benefit with some weeknight softball despite us struggling with no mid-week game to watch. You can once again catch all of the action this weekend on ESPN+ with the series getting underway Thursday, March 28th at 5pm CT, with Game 2 coming Friday at 5pm CT before wrapping up the weekend on Saturday at noon CT.
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