Week 2 Sooner Softball Report: Sanders coming up big in machine-like victories
Opening week, coach Patty Gasso’s Oklahoma softball team remained perfect, winning six games in Southern California. In week two, traveling to Waco to play four games against Hofstra and Baylor, the Sooners did more than that.
They were a machine.
Four games, four wins, a cumulative 36-4 score over the minimum 20 innings thanks to run-rule producing Sooner bats.
Also, another five-inning perfect game, this time from Sam Landry, who appears the early bet to be the team ace, not to mention a bunch of good things at the plate, among them the breakout of BYU transfer Ailana Agbayani and the continued good work of senior first baseman Cydney Sanders, who may finally become the complete offensive player everybody thought she'd be upon transferring to OU from Arizona State.
In Tempe, she was a freshman phenom, slashing .425/.566/.952 — while driving in 63 over 56 games. In Norman, though her production has improved the last two seasons, from seven to 15 home runs and 24 to 50 RBIs, she still hit just .260 as a sophomore and .242 as a junior.
Now?
Sanders exited opening week hitting a stout .385, but after four games in Waco the number’s popped to .450. Already she’s blasted a pair of home runs and two doubles, helping to support an .850 slugging percentage, while remaining an on-base savant, drawing 12 walks, more than any of her teammates. As usual, her on-base percentage — .656 — is about 200 points higher than her batting average.
In the Sooners’ 11-3 victory over Hofstra on Sunday, Sanders produced a very Sanders-like line at the plate: 1 for 1 with a double, an RBI, two runs scored, reaching base three times thanks to two walks.
Sanders and the Sooners will be hoping the weather works out for the annual Norman Tournament, which rather than being it’s typical Friday-Saturday-Sunday arrangement, is scheduled to be a Saturday-Sunday-Monday arrangement as Abilene Christian, Bowling Green, Wichita State and Tulsa visit Love’s Field.
The Schedule
Last week
— def. Hofstra 8-0 (5 innings)
— def. Baylor 9-1 (5 innings)
— def. Hofstra 11-3 (5 innings)
— def. Baylor 8-0 (5 innings)
This week
Norman Tournament
— Abilene Christian at OU, noon Saturday
— Bowling Green at OU, 2:30 p.m. Saturday
— Wichita State at OU, 11 a.m. Sunday
— Tulsa at OU, 1:30 p.m. Sunday
— Abilene Christian, 1:30 p.m. Monday
Record: 10-0
Streak: Won 10
Team numbers
Entering last week
Games: 6
Batting avg: .302
On-base pct: .454
Slugging pct: .575
Home runs: 12
ERA: 1.37
SO/IP: 50/46
Fielding pct: .995
Errors: 1
Unearned runs allowed: 2
Entering this week
Games: 10
Batting avg: .330
On-base pct: .470
Slugging pct: .636
Home runs: 19
ERA: 1.38
SO/IP: 78/66
Fielding pct: .989
Errors: 3
Unearned runs allowed: 2
Individual leaders
Batting average: Ella Parker .647 (Cydney Sanders .450)
On-base pct: Ella Parker .707 (Cydney Sanders .656)
Slugging pct: Sydney Barker 1.250 (Ella Parker 1.118)
RBIs: Ella Parker 14, Sydney Barker 14
Home runs: Ella Parker 3, Sydney Barker 3, Tia Milloy 3
Triples: Sydney Barker 2 (Kasidi Pickering 1)
Doubles: Ella Parker 7 (Cydney Sanders 2, Abigale Dayton 2, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 2, Kasidi Pickering 2)
Hits: Ella Parker 22 (Abigale Dayton 11)
Runs: Ella Parker 16 (Abigale Dayton 13)
Stolen bases: Ella Parker 3, Abigale Dayton 3
ERA: Isabella Smith 0.00; 15 2/3 IP (Kierston Deal 0.88; 16 IP)
Wins: Isabella Smith 4-0 (Audrey Lowden 3-0)
Innings pitched: Sam Landry 20 1/3
Strikeouts: Sam Landry 31
Inside the numbers
• Sydney Barker, hello: At least the top two Sooner leaders in each individual category are listed in these reports. Last week, Sydney Barker did not appear. This week, she’s everywhere. Her best game last weekend came Saturday against Baylor. Barker went 2 for 3 with six RBIs, clubbing a fifth-inning grand slam. Ella Parker’s been amazing, yet Barker’s pulled even with her three home runs and 14 RBIs, while carrying a slightly higher slugging percentage. Pretty good for a true freshman from Rocklin, California.
• Breakout for Agbayani: Alaina Agbayani, at OU after two seasons at BYU in which she slashed .337/.383/.417 and .424/.534/.594, is the daughter of former New York Met Benny Agbayani, who played four seasons for the New York Mets and parts of one more for Colorado and Boston. Last weekend, she came alive, raising her average to .286 after going 4 of 7 at the plate with a home run and, holy cow, seven RBIs.
• This can’t go on forever: Three Sooners are tied for the team lead with three home runs: Parker, Barker and Tia Milloy, a freshman from Woodinville, Washington. Parker has collected 22 hits, Barker six and Milloy three, each one a home run. You don’t see it very often, but Milloy’s slugging percentage (.706) is more than 500 points higher than her batting average (.176).
Notes of note
Landry looks like the one
Isabella Smith still hasn’t allowed an earned run and Kierston Deal’s earned run average is very good 0.88 and both have real inning counts: Smith 15 2/3 and Deal 16.
Sam Landry, the right-handed transfer from Louisiana, has thrown 20 1/3 and but for five runs allowed in 5 2/3 innings her first outing against San Diego State, she’s been close to perfect: 14 2/3 innings, 5 hits, no runs, 20 strikeouts, two walks, one hit batter.
The staff is deep
Beyond Smith, Deal and Landry, another pitcher made a mark in Waco and that was Audrey Lowry against Hofstra. Paytn Monticelli got the start but did not make it out of the second inning, allowing two hits, three earned runs, a walk and a hit batter before getting her fifth out. Lowry, who allowed three runs in less than three innings against Cal State-Fullerton the previous weekend, was given another chance and delivered.
She worked the rest of the game, 3 2/3 innings, and was perfect, yielding no hits, striking out eight and walking nobody.
Not much resistance?
No opponent stands out this weekend at the Norman Tournament. None are ranked and none have sparking win-loss records, yet both Wichita State (6-4) and Tulsa (5-5) might be capable of giving the Sooners a test.
Wichita State fell to ranked Kentucky 2-0 last weekend in Clearwater, Florida, getting a strong six-inning outing from Chloe Barber who allowed the Wildcats only two hits, though, oddly, she only struck out two and walked four.
Tulsa played unbeaten and No. 1 Texas to a 4-2 decision, the Longhorns netting their last two runs in the seventh inning. Brinly Maples went the distance for the Golden Hurricane, allowing six hits and three earned runs, keeping it close despite walking eight Longhorns and striking out only one.
Until next time …