WEEK 12 SOONER SOFTBALL REPORT: Kierston Deal is making her case
WEEK 12 SOONER SOFTBALL REPORT: Kierston Deal is making her case
The Skinny
Beginning perhaps a month ago, as one improved and the other dippped, however slightly, one of the interesting dramas on coach Patty Gasso’s Sooner softball team was the circle emergence of Kierston Deal and if she might overtake Nicole May as Oklahoma’s No. 2 pitching option behind Kelly Maxwell.
Yet, given last week, Deal may have flipped the script, the question now appearing to be if she’s destined to supplant both Maxwell and May and become the Sooners’ first option.
Maxwell and May remained the Sooners Nos. 1 and 2 starters last weekend, getting the Friday and Saturday starts against Houston. However, unlike the week before, when Gasso came back with Maxwell for the final game against BYU, Deal found herself pitching the Sunday game against Houston after also getting the midweek start against Tulsa at Hall of Fame Stadium.
How’d she do?
Well, over 13 innings, she tossed two complete-game shutouts, the first a six-inning no-hitter in which she walked none, struck out four and allowed only one batter to reach first base via a hit by pitch and the second a seven-inning job in which she allowed two hits, walked only one and struck out 10.
Both of her starts were of higher quality than both of Maxwell’s and May’s starts. Maxwell was plenty good, working five shutout innings against the Cougars, allowing two hits, walking three and striking out five, while May allowed three hits, two runs, a walk and struck out four over 4 1/3 innings the following day.
Deal’s 55 1/3 innings still trails May’s 62 and Maxwell’s 90 1/3, but it’s enough to not be considered a small sample size, making her 1.01 earned run average — Maxwell’s is 1.63 and May’s 2.15 — beyond impressive and no fluke. Her opponent batting average against of .146 is also better than Maxwell’s .159 and May’s .214 and she gives up fewer gopher balls, too, allowing three home runs to Maxwell’s eight and May’s seven.
It’s hard to imagine Deal will be rolled out to face Central Florida Friday night in Orlando, but it’s easy to see her taking May’s Saturday spot this weekend, while May falls to Sunday or Maxwell returns on Sunday.
Of course, it’s not like Gasso’s supposed to look at the new numbers and quickly change her rotation. Yet, by the postseason, she’s got decided which pitcher, really, gives OU the best chance to make the deepest run at the Women’s College Series, which the Sooners remain a heavy, heavy favorite to still make. If Gasso thinks that might be Deal, she’ll have to maneuver her into that position between now and then.
Look for Deal to get more opportunity to prove she might be that pitcher this weekend against the Knights (26-18, 10-11 Big 12), who enter the week slashing .309/.371/.441 with a staff earned run average of 2.81.
The Schedule
Last week
— def. Tulsa 8-0 (6 innings)
— def. Houston 8-0 (6 innings)
— def. Houston 10-2 (5 innings)
— def. Houston 5-0
This week
— at Central Florida, 5 p.m. Friday (ESPN+)
— at Central Florida, 1 p.m. Saturday (ESPN+)
— at Central Florida, 10 a.m. Sunday (ESPNU)
Record: 42-4
Conference record: 18-3
Streak: Won 5
Numbers
Entering last week
Games: 42
Batting average: .379
On-base percentage: .483
Slugging percentage: .692
Earned run average: 1.65
Strikeouts/innings pitched: 258/255
Opponent batting average: .185
Fielding percentage: .985
Errors: 16
Unearned runs allowed: 7
Entering this week
Games: 46
Batting average: .379
On-base percentage: .475
Slugging percentage: .681
Earned run average: 1.56
Strikeouts/innings pitched: 281/279
Opponent batting average: .180
Fielding percentage: .985
Errors: 17
Unearned runs allowed: 7
Leaders
Batting average: Alyssa Brito .425 (Rylie Boone .422)
On-base percentage: Jayda Coleman .556 (Cydney Sanders .516)
Slugging percentage: Alyssa Brito .896 (Tiare Jennings .857)
Runs batted in: Tiare Jennings 53 (Alyssa Brito 46)
Home runs: Tiare Jennings 16 (Alyssa Brito 15)
Triples: Alyssa Brito 4 (Rylie Boone 1, Kasidi Pickering 1, Riley Hodge 1)
Doubles: Tiare Jennings 12 (Alyssa Brito 10, Rylie Boone 10)
Hits: Alyssa Brito 57 (Tiare Jennings 54)
Runs scored: Jayda Coleman 51 (Alyssa Brito 49)
Stolen bases: Ella Parker 14 (Maya Bland 8)
Earned run average: S.J. Guerin 0.70; 10 IP (Kierston Deal 1.01; 55 1/3 IP)
Wins: Kelly Maxwell 14-1 (Nicole May 12-1)
Innings pitched: Kelly Maxwell 90 1/3 (Nicole May 62)
Strikeouts: Kelly Maxwell 101 (Nicole May 68)
Inside the numbers
• Make it a triple: On Feb. 17, the Sooners’ eighth game of the season, they topped McNeese State 3-0 in Lake Charles, La., a game in which Alyssa Brito turned her only hit into a triple and scored one of OU’s three runs. Believe it or not, that was the last triple hit by any Sooner until Brito hit another one last Tuesday against Tulsa, the Sooners’ 43rd game of the season. Then, wouldn’t you know it, Brito hit another triple three days later against Houston, as did Kasidi Pickering, and the following day Brito hit yet another triple, her third of the week. The Sooners have seven triples this season, four from Brito.
• Batting struggles? Right now, five different Sooners are batting .400 or better: Alyssa Brito .425, Rylie Boone .424, Jayda Coleman .422, Kinzie Hansen .422 and Tiare Jennings .406 … which is amazing. Yet, the following things are also true: Entering April, Coleman was hitting .466, Boone .455 and Jennings .446. As a team, OU’s still hitting a nation’s best .379, but that’s still three big Sooner bats that have legit cooled. Probably not cause for great alarm, but it’s part of the story of the Sooners dropping the games they’ve dropped.
• How’s Cydney: It seems like we could write about Cydney Sanders in one of these notes every week. Last Tuesday, she had a very Cydney Sanders type of game. Walking twice, she turned her only actual at bat into a sixth inning grand slam that helped the Sooners slam the door on their six-inning run-rule over the Golden Hurricane. For the week, her batting average moved up just a point, from .295 to .296, yet her on-base percentage took another leap, from .509 to .516. Among regular starters, Sanders is ninth on the team in hitting, yet second in on-base percentage. Just like the triples, you have to love the statistical oddities of the diamond.
Diamond Notes
Interesting matchup
As mentioned above, UCF carries a not-bad team earned run average of 2.81. Individually, the Knight staff is led by Sarah Willis, who’s thrown 99 innings, sports a 2.48 ERA, has completed seven games, struck out 87 and walked 41. OU may have three (or more) pitchers better than Willis, but if she can hold the Sooners to three, four or five runs, OU might find itself in another competitive game.
Record keeping
Over the course of winning three straight national championships, the standard OU’s created, basically, is never losing a game. Given that, it seemed like a good idea to see what the Sooners’ record was 46 games into every season they eventually claimed the national championship. Here it is:
2023, 45-1; 2022, 45-1; 2021, 44-2; 2017, 39-7; 2016, 39-7; 2013, 43-3; 2000, 41-5
They’re 42-4 right now.
Standings and rankings
The Big 12 claims three of the top five spots in the just released Softball America top 25: No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 5 Oklahoma State. Tennessee and Texas A&M, both of the SEC, are Nos. 3 and 4. Duke, UCLA, Arkansas, Stanford and Georgia round out the top 10.
As for the conference standings, Big 12 softball is more top heavy than SEC football, with Texas (18-3), OU (17-4), OSU (16-5) atop the league standings. Kansas is 11-10 and that’s it for over .500 conference records.
Until next time …