Week 10 Sooner Softball Report: Sooner bats must turn around against Bulldogs
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The Skinny
We did not expect this.
Even those prepared for Oklahoma to take small step back could not have been prepared for this, because Alabama has not been a top-10 or top-15 team this season. Indeed, the Crimson Tide — which just took two straight games from the Sooners, two games in which OU scored two runs total and collected eight hits total — remains a team with 16 losses overall and eight conference defeats in 15 tries.
But it happened.
Sam Landry deserved to win Monday night in Tuscaloosa, allowing just one run over seven innings until suffering a game-winning home run from Audrey Vandagriff on her very first pitch of the eighth inning.
Offensive support was Landry’s only problem.
The Sooners have now lost consecutive conference series for the first time in who knows how long and still they’ve yet to meet third-ranked Texas or eighth-ranked Florida.
They won’t play either this week, though they will be meeting Mississippi State (33-11, 9-6), standing one game behind them in the conference race.
Mississippi State, ranked 16th, but could be rising after taking two of three from Missouri.
After Bedlam filled what used to be called Hall of Fame Stadium last week, OU will take a shot at filling it by itself on Friday, when it meets the Bulldogs in the series opener. The series then moves to Norman and Love’s Field for Friday’s and Saturday’s contests.
Still, OU would dearly love to find more pitching it can believe in from sources other than Landry, who tossed three complete games last week, beginning with a five-inning run-rule over Oklahoma State.
Yet, mostly, the problem is the Sooner bats.
In three games against the Tide, the Sooners hit .190 (15 of 79).
More on that, and other things, below.
Enjoy.
The Schedule
Last week
— def. Oklahoma State 11-3
— def. Alabama 5-1
— lost to Alabama 6-1
— lost to Alabama 2-1 (8 innings)
This week
— vs. Mississippi State, 6:30 p.m. Friday, at Hall of Fame Stadium, Oklahoma City
— vs. Mississippi State, 1 p.m. Saturday
— vs. Mississippi State, 1 p.m. Sunday
Record: 36-5 (10-5 SEC)
Streak: Lost 2
Team numbers
Entering last week
Games: 37
Batting avg: .343
On-base pct: .469
Slugging pct: .651
Home runs: 72
Triples: 7
Doubles: 60
Stolen bases: 49
Caught stealing: 9
ERA: 2.42
SO/IP: 228/234
Fielding pct: .979
Errors: 20
Unearned runs allowed: 13
Entering this week
Games: 41
Batting avg: .333
On-base pct: .455
Slugging pct: .630
Home runs: 77
Triples: 7
Doubles: 66
Stolen bases: 51
Caught stealing: 10
ERA: 2.43
SO/IP: 247/259
Fielding pct: .979
Errors: 23
Unearned runs allowed: 16
Individual leaders
Batting average: Kasidi Pickering .430, Gabbie Garcia .386
On-base pct: Kasidi Pickering 581, Cydney Sanders .492
Slugging pct: Kasidi Pickering .869, Sydney Barker .809
RBIs: Kasidi Pickering 42, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 40
Home runs: Kasidi Pickering 12, Gabbie Garcia 11, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 11
Triples: Sydney Barker 2, Kasidi Pickering 1, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 1, Gabbie Garcia 1, Dayton Abigale 1, Ailana Agbayani 1
Doubles: Ella Parker 13, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 12
Hits: Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 47, Kasidi Pickering 46
Runs: Kasidi Pickering 46, Kasidi Pickering 40, Abigale Dayton 40
Stolen bases: Abigale Dayton 12, Ailana Agbayani 9
ERA: Sam Landry 1.77, Audrey Lowry 1.98
Wins: Sam Landry 13-3, Isabella Smith 8-1, Kierston Deal 8-1
Innings pitched: Sam Landry 103, Kierston Deal 58 1/3
Strikeouts: Sam Landry 114, Isabella Smith 42
Inside the numbers
• Pickering finally blanked: Going 0 for 4 against Alabama on Monday, Kasidi Pickering said goodbye to a 16-game hitting streak and an 18-game on-base streak. In eight of those 16 games, Pickering collected multiple hits.
• Can Lowry go longer: Sam Landry carries an earned run average of 1.77 and Audrey Lowry carries an ERA of 1.98. Two weekends ago Landry returned to the circle for the first time since March 12. This past weekend, she tossed another three innings, allowing one hit and one earned run. She may be OU’s second best pitcher, but she’ll have to be able to throw starter innings to offer the balance the pitching staff needs.
• How is this possible?: In the Sunday game of the Alabama series, Crimson Tide pitcher Jocelyn Briski tossed a complete-game two-hitter, walking only one batter. Somehow, she did it striking only two Sooners out; meaning OU was putting the ball in play over and over and over again without collecting hits, which is hard to do. Briski may not be a strikeout pitcher, but still she has K’d 82 batters over 114 2/3 innings. Go figure.
Notes of note
Bland excites, makes her case
Maya Bland is in her second Sooner season of spot duty. A majority of her at bats have come when coach Patty Gasso sends her in to pinch hit, a role in which she has enjoyed moderate success, though that may be changing.
She received a rare start against Oklahoma State this past week and it was her three-run fourth-inning home run that put the Sooners up for good. Many more runs came later but when Bland smoked her shot, the score went from 3-2 Cowgirls to 5-3 Sooners.
The very next game, the Sooners down 1-0 entering the top of the seventh inning at Alabama, returning to her pinch-hitter’s role, Bland connected for another long ball, again plating the game-winning run when she drove Gabbie Garcia and herself in to score.
Bland’s slashing .267/.450/.567 but has come to the plate just 40 times all season, collecting eight hits, three home runs and nine walks.
What might she do with more opportunity?
Hitting now the problem
There was a time we wondered if there was an ace on OU’s pitching staff. Turns out there was, it’s Sam Landry, and nothing Landry did against Alabama places that in question. In two Tuscaloosa starts, she allowed 10 hits over 14 innings and only two runs, striking out 11 and walking only one.
It’s the plate where OU’s struggling.
The Sooners scored just two runs, total, the last two days of the Alabama series and in the opener, though they scored five, they scored none their first six turns at the plate. They have also scored three or fewer runs in four of their last six conference games and five of their last nine.
Over the entirety of the season, OU’s slashing .333/.455/.630.
Yet, in 15 SEC games, those numbers are .250/.367/.487.
You could drive a truck between those numbers.
Conference hard on everybody
The Sooners’ 10-5 mark against SEC foes still has them third in the conference, behind Texas A&M (12-3) and Texas (11-4). Meanwhile, Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi State, ranked seventh, fourth and 16th, are all behind OU at 9-6.
Until next time …
The question is, less talent, just young at the plate? Or has JT Gasso (aka The Bat Whisperer) lost his voice? Hard to be critical of a team sitting 3rd in Conference play and ranked within the Top 10 at this juncture of the season. Wouldn’t be surprised to see this squad jell in time for Regional play, if not Sooner.