Texan Domination/Texas Tech Preview

By Taylor Thomas

After the Tuesday night doubleheader sweep of Tarleton State, the Oklahoma Sooners now sit with a 24-1 record. I could start this article with a lot of different things, but with the month she has had as we sit only fourteen days into March, we have to start things off with Cydney Sanders. Just two weeks ago, the junior first baseman held a .284 average with only two home runs. Ladies and gentleman, it is now March 14th, and Sanders currently leads the team with ten home runs and has raised her average over 100 points with a .395 batting average. The junior who transferred alongside Alynah Torres before last season from Arizona State had a great 2023 season in her first year in Norman. However, the kind of tear Sanders is currently on is what both Sooner fans and Sanders herself have expected from the former Freshman-All American. Riding the hot bat of Sanders only makes this Sooner lineup even scarier as they will take their final road trip to Lubbock this weekend to take on Texas Tech. 

Oklahoma faced off with the Tarleton State Texans on Tuesday night in the first midweek doubleheader at Love’s Field, and once again the venue delivered some more history. Kelly Maxwell was in the circle to begin Game 1, and she fired her fourth career no-hitter and first one in a Sooner uniform in the five inning run-rule victory. The senior punched out seven Texan hitters and was in control from the first pitch to the last. In the home half of the first, Jayda Coleman blasted a leadoff home run to left center field that was followed up by two more runs in the inning, taking advantage of a TSU error and a Cydney Sanders sacrifice fly that gave OU a 3-0 lead early on. Each offense was silenced until the 5th inning, when Sanders hit her 9th home run of the year, this time a three run blast to right field that put the Sooners in control. Freshman Ella Parker has shown to be a true elite threat at the plate as she drove in Maya Bland later on in the inning on an RBI double while Alynah Torres followed her up with an RBI single to center that put the Sooners in run-rule territory as Game 1 ended in five innings by a final score of 8-0. 

Game 2 of the doubleheader for OU started out with a bang again. As Erin Miller was on the broadcast talking about how locked in Cydney Sanders had been, she made Miller look even smarter as she sent her second three run bomb of the day way over the wall in left center field. Riley Ludlam followed up Sanders with a single to left that scored two more Sooner runs to extend the first inning lead to 5-0. Insert redshirt sophomore outfielder Hannah Coor, who most Sooner fans know is an absolute threat both defensively and on the basepaths. Coor has battled nagging injuries in what is her third season in Norman as she missed all of last season due to a back injury. Fully healthy now, Coor has made a few appearances so far this year, and gave Patty Gasso even more of a reason to continue to see playing time, as she sent her first collegiate home run to right field that sent the crowd and dugout into mayhem. The best part about this specific moment was once again the reaction of her teammates, who know how hard she has worked to get back into this position as her home run gave the Sooners a 7-0 lead after the first inning. Coor wasn’t done there as she recorded her third RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly in the third. Nicole May surrendered the only run on the day for the opposition as she went three innings while striking out four before handing things over to Karlie Keeney. The Human Air Guitar known as Rylie Boone continued her career year at the plate with an RBI double to start a four run fourth inning that gave OU a 12-1 lead before Keeney finished the job in her second inning of work to earn another run-rule victory. 

Oklahoma will take their first Big 12 road trip of the 2024 season to Lubbock, Texas on Friday as they take on Texas Tech, who is receiving votes in the latest top 25 poll with a 21-5 record on the season. The Red Raiders are off to a great start under Coach Craig Snider in his second season, dropping three of their five games to three definite postseason teams in Charlotte, Texas State, and No. 4 Florida State. Texas Tech has given a lot of good pitching staffs some issues this season as five hitters come into the matchup with an average north of .350, led by senior Riley Love. So far in 2024, Love leads the team with sixty-nine total bases, ten home runs and thirty six RBI to go along with a .351 average. Logan Halleman and Kailey Wyckoff at the top of the lineup are huge threats in front of Love also, as they both boast a batting average of over .400 while Halleman has fourteen stolen bases already. Some Sooner fans may remember this series last season as Texas Tech played the strategy of using a different pitcher each inning to silence the OU offense. While I don’t expect that to be in play this year, I do expect Coach Snider to utilize his three arms a lot this weekend. The duo of Maddy Wright and Maddie Kuehl have been stellar to start this season, with Wright holding a team leading 2.03 ERA in 41.1 innings. Kuehl leads the team in both innings and strikeouts this year, boasting a 2.27 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 61.2 innings pitched. Oklahoma transfer Olivia Rains rounds out the rotation with just over 40 innings of work and a 4.34 ERA as the Red Raiders look to be a very complete squad yet again.

Like many road games for Oklahoma, expect a packed crowd at Rocky Johnson Field in Lubbock in what should be a very hostile environment like most road games will be in what is the Sooners final season in the Big 12. Behind a very good lineup and pitching staff, the key for the Red Raiders will be to ride that duo of Maddy Wright and Maddie Kuehl as they hope to keep this potent OU lineup at bay, which is of course easier said than done. Patty Gasso has continued to challenge her team as we sit now around a quarter of the way through the season, and I expect much of the same from the Hall Of Fame coach that will lead her team in this big time conference matchup on the road. You can catch all of the action on ESPN+ with the first game slated for a 6pm CT start time, followed up on Saturday at 1pm CT and rounding things out Sunday afternoon at 12pm CT.