WEEK 7 SOONER SOFTBALL REPORT: Now it gets real?
The Skinny
It’s about to get real.
If not this weekend against Baylor, then maybe next weekend against Kansas and certainly the weekend after that against Texas.
Kansas, you ask? The Jayhawks?
Yes, Kansas.
That’s because a look at top-ranked Oklahoma’s (27-1, 6-0 Big 12) schedule a couple weeks ago revealed its first difficult conference series to likely be Baylor, a top-10 team in the nation, the only team to beat the Sooners last season and, you know, following everything that came before, the Bears simply appeared to be step up in class.
Perhaps they are, yet if they are, so are the Jayhawks, because Kansas just took three straight games from Baylor, allowing two runs the whole weekend, blanking the Bears twice behind 12 innings of scoreless pitching from Katie Brooks. Indeed, the sweep dropped the Bears to 16-8 overall and just 1-5 against Big 12 foes, while Kansas improved to 19-7-1 and 4-2.
Baylor still appears to bring strong pitching, led by Rylee Crandall, who’s toting a 1.31 earned run average and a team-high 59 innings pitched. The Bears, though, may have a serious plate problem. To date, they’re slashing .279/.346/.366, which is anemic. They’ve hit six home runs all season and scored 86 runs.
OU has hit 56 home runs and scored 253 runs.
Presuming the Sooners have no problem with Texas-Arlington on Wednesday, they should enter the weekend full of confidence, having crushed Texas Tech last weekend in Lubbock.
OU outscored Tech 34-1, put up 8 runs in the seventh inning of the Friday game and 12 runs in the first inning of the Saturday game. The Sunday contest was fairly competitive, OU on top just 2-1 entering the top of the fifth inning, though Alyssa Brito took care of that, delivering a two-run home run to get the Sooners moving again. Another run followed in the sixth and seven more in the seventh.
Entering the week, OU remains No. 1 in the only Monday updated poll, belonging to Softball America. Here’s the rest of the top 10: LSU, Duke, Texas, Georgia, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Washington, Virginia Tech.
D1Softball.com typically updates its top 25 on Monday, too, but may have held out this week as at least one very important series — LSU-Ole Miss in Baton Rouge — waited to conclude. LSU reached 24-0 on Saturday, but is now 24-2 after falling Sunday and Monday to the Rebels.
In addition to Texas at No. 3 and OSU at No. 5 on Softball America’s list, Kansas made its debut in the poll at No. 20, while Baylor fell from 14th to 22nd.
The Schedule
Last week
— def. Tarleton State 8-0 (5 innings)
— def. Tarleton State 12-1 (5 innings)
— def. Texas Tech 14-0
— def. Texas Tech 15-2 (5 innings)
— def. Texas Tech 11-1
This week
— vs. Texas-Arlington, 6 p.m., Wednesday
— vs. Baylor, 6 p.m. Friday (at Hall of Fame Stadium, Oklahoma City)
— vs. Baylor, 2 p.m. Saturday (at Love’s Field)
— vs. Baylor, 1 p.m., Sunday (at Love’s Field)
Record: 27-1
Streak: Won 9
Numbers
Entering last week
Games: 23
Batting average: .388
On-base percentage: .473
Slugging percentage: .705
Earned run average: 1.32
Strikeouts/innings pitched: 143/138
Fielding percentage: .988
Errors: 7
Unearned runs allowed: 6
Entering this week
Games: 28
Batting average: .394
On-base percentage: .491
Slugging percentage: .718
Earned run average: 1.26
Strikeouts/innings pitched: 180/167
Fielding percentage: .985
Errors: 10
Unearned runs allowed: 6
Leaders
Batting average: Ella Parker .438 (Alyssa Brito .434)
On-base percentage: Cydney Sanders .579 (Ella Parker .543)
Slugging percentage: Cydney Sanders 1.020 (Tiare Jennings .923)
Runs batted in: Tiare Jennings 37 (Cydney Sanders 30)
Home runs: Cydney Sanders 10, Tiare Jennings 10 (Alyssa Brito 9)
Triples: Rylie Boone 1, Alyssa Brito 1, Avery Hodge 1
Doubles: Tiare Jennings 9 (Alyssa Brito 7, Ella Parker 7)
Hits: Tiare Jennings 33, Alyssa Brito 33 (Rylie Boone 30, Jayda Coleman 30)
Earned run average: S.J. Guerin 0.00 (6 2/3 IP), Paytn Monticelli 0.55 (12 2/3 IP)
Wins: Nicole May 9-0 (Kelly Maxwell 8-0)
Innings pitched: Kelly Maxwell 48 (Nicole May 41)
Strikeouts: Kelly Maxwell 56 (48 IP), Nicole May 49 (41 IP)
Notes on numbers
• Fearing Sanders: Over five games last week, Cydney Sanders’ batting average actually dropped five points, from .385 to .380, ninth best among her teammates. Nonetheless, no Sooner batter is feared quite like Sanders, who continues to lead the team in both on-base percentage (.579) and slugging percentage (1.020). The slugging percentage is a nod to Sanders’ power. Her 10 home runs have her tied with Tiarre Jennings for the team lead and her two doubles give her 12 extra-base hits against only seven singles. She also walks more than any Sooner, receiving 21 free passes to date, six more than second-on-the-team Ella Parker. Against Texas Tech, Sanders went 2 for 7 over three games, but walked five times.
• Bringing them home: You have to wonder what Tiare Jennings thought of her three games against the Red Raiders. Was she mad after going 1 for 5 on Sunday or did she stop to realize she may have enjoyed the most productive weekend any Sooner’s enjoyed this season. On Friday, she went 3 for 3, two of them home runs, drove in six and scored twice. On Saturday, she went 2 for 3 with a double and a walk, drove in three and scored twice. On Sunday, despite going 1 for 5, the lone hit was a home run, driving home three and, of course, she scored again, too. To date, Jennings is slashing .423/.495/.923, has hit a co-team-high 10 home runs, a team-high nine doubles and driven in a team-high 37 runs.
• Deal’s long run ends: Kierston Deal only started one of OU’s five games last week after starting two the previous week. In it, after throwing 22 scoreless innings over five appearances, she allowed two runs, both earned, over 3 1/3 innings Saturday against Tech. Her season numbers, though, are still sparkling: 6-0, 28 innings pitched, 1.25 earned run average, six walks and 30 strikeouts. She’s allowed 19 hits, only three for extra bases and opponents are hitting .184 against her.
Diamond Notes
The Maxwell and May show
To lose their status as coach Patty Gasso’s favorite Sooner pitchers, Kelly Maxwell or Nicole May may have to stumble badly. For two or three weeks Kierston Deal had been the team’s best pitcher, yet Gasso has continued to roll out Maxwell and May the most. Between them, on a six-person staff, they’ve accumulated 53.3 percent (89 of 167) of OU’s innings and 63.8 percent (23 of 36) of its conference innings. Over last week, Maxwell started two games, May started two and Deal one. Even after giving up a pair of runs against Texas Tech, Deal’s 1.25 earned run average over 28 innings remains slightly better than Maxwell’s 1.31 over 48 and May’s 1.54 over 41.
Conference comparison
We already took a look at what Baylor’s been doing at the plate this season, but where might Texas and OSU rank next to the Sooners. Believe it or not, one of them doesn’t trail by much. While OU’s slashing .394/.491/.718 — batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage — Texas is slashing .401/.478/.672. The Longhorns are also scoring 8.9 runs per game, while the Sooners are scoring 9. The two teams don’t diverge much in the circle, either. OU’s team earned run average is 1.26 and Texas’ is 1.38.
Meanwhile, the Cowgirls are slashing .331/.405/.577 with a team ERA of 1.62.
Texas leads the nation in batting average, OU is second.
OU leads the nation in on-base percentage, Texas is third.
OU is second in the nation in slugging percentage to Miami (Ohio), Texas is third.
OU is fourth in the nation in ERA, Texas is fifth, OSU is 11th.
Keeping them involved
OU has five not-quite-everyday position players on its roster, but one thing Gasso’s very good at is working them into the lineup, finding at bats for them and keeping them involved. The five are Riley Ludlam, Maya Bland, Avery Hodge, Hannah Coor and Quincee Lilio.
Not necessarily with an at-bat each appearance, but each has seen action in at least 23 of the Sooners’ 28 games and this past week, a couple of them came up big. Ludlam went 3 for 3 with three RBIs and a run scored against Tarleton State. Avery Hodge went 2 for 2 and scored a run in the Sunday game against Tech.
Ludlam (.385), Bland (.375) and Hodge (.323) are all hitting at least .300.
Until next time …