Week 1 Sooner Softball Report: OU remains unbeaten, but it wasn't easy
It’s a new season.
Or perhaps this is more accurate:
It’s a NEW season.
Though Oklahoma is a perfect 6-0 following a four-day Southern California road trip that took it to San Diego, Fullerton, Los Angeles and Long Beach, the victories were not the typical fare we’ve become accustomed to during four straight national championship seasons.
For example, the Sooners had to go extra innings to secure two of their victories and only once prevailed by run-rule.
Also, when OU reports to Baylor this weekend to meet Hofstra and the Bears at the Getterman Classic, it will have scored runs in only two of its previous 15 innings.
OU may have a flair for the dramatic.
Against San Diego State, the Sooners prevailed 11-6 in nine innings, the game-winning blow a grand slam from Isabela Emerling, a redshirt junior who spent the last three years at North Carolina.
They may also have some mettle, exemplified by Sunday’s 2-0 11-inning victory over Long Beach State, a game that only turned in OU’s favor after Emerling drew a one-out walk and reached second on a ground out, before coming home on Abigale Dayton’s two-out double to left-center field. Dayton was then driven home by an Ella Parker single.
Speaking of Parker, she’s on fire, leading the Sooners in almost every offensive category, stolen bases included.
More on her later.
In the circle, it’s an interesting mix.
Sam Landry, a Louisiana transfer, is striking out more opponent batters out than any of her staff mates and it’s not close. Yet Isabella Smith, who transferred in from Campbell, has already thrown a five-inning perfect game against Cal Baptist and is sporting a perfect earned run average after three appearances.
The Sooners are a decent bet to remain unbeaten this weekend.
Hofstra, from the Colonial Athletic Association, has yet to play a game and Baylor, though 3-2 after five games, has taken losses from No. 7 Texas A&M and Utah State, while topping Abilene Christian, Purdue and Villanova.
The Schedule
Last week
— def. Cal State-Northridge 7-2
— def. San Diego State 11-6 (9 innings)
— def. Cal Baptist 8-0 (5 innings)
— def. Cal State-Fullerton 13-3
— def. Loyola Marymount 9-0
— def. Long Beach State 2-0 (11 innings)
This week
Getterman Classic (Waco, Texas)
— vs. Hofstra, noon Saturday
— vs. Baylor, 2:30 p.m. Saturday
— vs. Hofstra,, 10:30 a.m. Sunday
— vs. Baylor, 3 p.m. Sunday
Record: 6-0
Streak: Won 6
Team numbers
Games: 6
Batting avg: .302
On-base pct: .454
Slugging pct: .575
Earned run average: 1.37
Strikeouts/innings pitched: 50/46
Fielding pct: .995
Errors: 1
Unearned runs allowed: 2
Individual leaders
Batting average: Ella Parker .591 (Cydney Sanders .385)
On-base pct: Ella Parker .679 (Cydney Sanders .600)
Slugging pct: Ella Parker .955 (Kasidi Pickering .800)
RBIs: Kasidi Pickering 9 (Ella Parker 8)
Home runs: Kasidi Pickering 2, Isabela Emerling 2, Tia Milloy 2
Triples: Kasidi Pickering 1
Doubles: Ella Parker 5 (Abigale Dayton 2, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 2)
Hits: Ella Parker 13, (Abigale Dayton 7, Kasidi Pickering 7, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 7)
Runs: Ella Parker 10 (Abigale Dayton 8)
Stolen bases: Ella Parker 3 (Abigale Dayton 2)
ERA: Isabella Smith 0.00, (Kierston Deal 0.62)
Wins: Isabella Smith 3-0 (Audrey Lowry 2-0)
Innings pitched: Sam Landry 15 (Isabella Smith 12 2/3)
Strikeouts: Sam Landry 23 (Isabella Smith 14)
Inside the numbers
• Ella on a roll: Parker’s dominance is wild. Not only is she leading the Sooners in so many categories, she leading her teammates by wide margins in those categories: batting 200-plus points higher than Cydney Sanders, out-slugging Kasidi Pickering by more than 150 points, almost doubling up her nearest pursuers in hit total. It’s just six games, but holy cow.
• Who are the hitters: In the recent past, one measure of OU’s dominant offense has been the number of .400 hitters in the lineup. That number was three last season, followed by three others who hit at least .385. Six games into this season, yet to face the pitching staff of any top 25 opponent, only Parker is hitting .400 and only Cydney Sanders is hitting .385, while just three others — Dayton (.350), Pickering (.350), Nelly McEnroe-Marinas (.304) — are cracking .300, and after that, the next best averages drop all the way to .200. For the first time in years, might the bottom of the Sooner order include some automatic outs?
• What’s up with Landry: A decent indication of who coach Patty Gasso believes her most dependable pitcher to be is who throws the most innings and six games into the season that’s Sam Landry, who got starts against San Diego State and Loyola Marymount and who’s thrown 15 innings, during which she’s struck out 23. Her earned run average, however, is a not good 2.33 thanks to nine hits and five runs allowed agains the Aztecs.
Around the horn
Managing the staff
One might have presumed the best and busiest pitchers on the Sooner staff would likely have played in a major conference last season and, decent chance, the Big 12, given OU was in it.
But if those pitchers are Landry and Smith, you’re talking one pitcher who tossed in the Sun Belt (Landry) a year ago and another in the Big South (Smith).
The busiest incumbent Sooner has thus far been Kierston Deal, who’s thrown 11 1/3 innings and who’s sporting a 0.62 earned run average. Paytn Monticelli, who pitched very well for a long stretch last season, has only thrown 1 1/3 innings, though her ERA is unblemished.
Low average, big bats?
Six games into the season, OU has clubbed 12 home runs.
The funny thing is six of those home runs have been from Sooners hitting .300 or better: Parker, Sanders, Dayton, Pickering, McEnroe-Marina; while the remaining six have come from Sooners hitting .200 or worse: Emerling, Tia Milloy, Gabbie Garcia and Sydney Barker.
Emerling’s hitting .200, Milloy .154, Garcia .167, Barker .167, and if you can believe it, Milloy and Barker have three hits total between them and they’re all home runs.
It’s a NEW conference
There are too many softball polls and the three big ones are the top 25s belonging to ESPN.com/USA Softball, the NFCA coaches’ poll and D1softball.com. Most of the time in these reports we’ll simply go with the ESPN poll.
In it, the Sooners’ old conference, the Big 12, counted three teams in its preseason poll: No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 10 Texas Tech and No. 19 Baylor.
The number of SEC teams on the list are 11 (and 10 of the first 15): No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Florida, No. 3 OU, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 9 LSU, No. 11 Alabama, No. 13 Arkansas, No. 14 Georgia, No. 15 Missouri, No. 24 Mississippi State.
New polls arrive today.