Week 8 OU Softball Report: Deal delivers, Pickering pops, Sooners struggle
Remember Bedlam last season?
Oklahoma lost the first two games.
The series no longer winnable, it didn’t want to be swept.
Kasidi Pickering staked the Sooners to a 2-0 lead and two batters later Rylie Boone beat out an infield single and, instead of peeling off the bag into foul territory, dang near ran all the way to the right field wall, celebrating like she felt lighter than she had all season.
It felt like a moment with legs and it was.
Not long after, the Sooners were again national champs.
Game 2 of last weekend’s series against ninth-ranked Tennessee felt like a moment with legs, too. Felt like the first turning point out of the season’s first real ditch and Kierston Deal provided it.
Earlier in the week, she’d gotten just seven outs and allowed six earned runs in what became a 19-16 victory at Wichita State; and the day before, Sam Landry, who wasn’t terrific in Wichita either, was on the wrong side of a 5-2 series-opening loss to the Volunteers.
If the Sooner ace couldn’t get it done against the Vols, what could Deal do a few days after being shelled by the Shockers?
Turned out plenty.
Deal tossed a seven-inning four-hitter, allowing one run, striking out five and walking only one.
Heroic.
A huge performance when her team needed it most and just like that, the Sooners were back on schedule.
Only they weren’t.
The next day, Sunday, it was OU with only four hits in a 5-3 loss in which Tennessee, facing Landry again, scored all its runs after two were out and no Vols on base in the fourth inning.
“It’s humbling, but we know we’re not good enough,” Sooner coach Patty Gasso said. “We’re winning, but we know we’re not good enough.
“That’s a World Series team we just played.”
The good news?
OU gets a vacation from SEC play this week, taking on Texas-Arlington, St. Thomas and Central Florida.
The bad news?
OU must get better against conference foes but won’t get the chance until traveling to Alabama on April 12.
The Schedule
Last week
— def. Wichita State 19-16
— lost to Tennessee 5-2 (8 innings)
— def. Tennessee 4-1
— lost to Tennessee 5-3
This week
— at Texas-Arlington, 6 p.m. Tuesday
— vs. St. Thomas, 4 p.m. Friday
— vs. Central Florida 7 p.m. Friday
— vs. Central Florida, 12:30 p.m. Saturday
Record: 31-3 (9-3 SEC)
Streak: Lost 1
Team numbers
Entering last week
Games: 30
Batting avg: .332
On-base pct: .469
Slugging pct: .650
Home runs: 60
Triples: 4
Doubles: 50
Stolen bases: 45
Caught stealing: 7
ERA: 1.90
SO/IP: 194/188
Fielding pct: .980
Errors: 14
Unearned runs allowed: 10
Entering this week
Games: 34
Batting avg: .328
On-base pct: .461
Slugging pct: .632
Home runs: 65
Triples: 7
Doubles: 53
Stolen bases: 48
Caught stealing: 7
ERA: 2.45
SO/IP: 214/217
Fielding pct: .971
Errors: 19
Unearned runs allowed: 12
Individual leaders
Batting average: Kasidi Pickering .417, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas .393
On-base pct: Kasidi Pickering .593, Ella Parker .529
Slugging pct: Kasidi Pickering .881, Gabbie Garcia .811
RBIs: Kasidi Pickering 35, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 35
Home runs: Gabbie Garcia 11, Kasidi Pickering 10, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 10
Triples: Sydney Barker 2, Kasidi Pickering 1, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 1, Gabbie Garcia 1, Dayton Abigale 1, Ailana Agbayani 1
Doubles: Ella Parker 12, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 11
Hits: Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 42, Kasidi Pickering 35, Ela Parker 35
Runs: Nelly McEnroe-Marinas 40, Abigale Dayton 37
Stolen bases: Abigale Dayton 12, Ella Parker 8, Ailana Agbayani 8,
ERA: Sam Landry 1.94, Audrey Jones 2.10
Wins: Sam Landry 10-2, Kierston Deal 7-0, Isabella Smith 7-1
Innings pitched: Sam Landry 79 1/3, Kierston Deal 54
Strikeouts: Sam Landry 95, Isabella Smith 36
Inside the numbers
• Tougher foes: A year ago, after a dozen Big 12 games, the Sooners were slashing .394/.495/.733 overall and an even better .396/.518/.801 against conference foes. Now they’re slashing .328/.461/.632 against everybody but just .265/.394/.528 against SEC opponents.
• Parker’s slump ongoing: Coming out of the South Carolina series, even after going 0 for 5 against the Gamecocks, Ella Parker was still slashing .535/.639/.932, leading OU in all three categories. Since, she’s slashed .133/.278/.233 by going 4 of 30 at the plate, hitting a home run and three singles and drawing six walks. Against SEC competition only, Parker’s slashing .067/.333/.167 after going 0 for 8 against Tennessee.
• Bright spot: The last time OU scored nine or fewer runs over a conference series was only last season, when it scored seven against Texas. That season turned out pretty well.
Notes of note
Pickering needs support
Kasidi Pickering had a ridiculous week, going 8 of 9 at the plate and drawing five walks, meaning she reached base 14 of 15 plate appearances, including 14 straight — 15 going back to the rubber game against Missouri — which might be some kind of a record. She hit a home run and a double, driving in five and scoring five runs, too.
Still, a sign of OU’s struggle to score runs, only one of Pickering’s runs came against Tennessee, the other four occurring against Wichita State. And her first six hits against the Volunteers included no RBIs, a sign of hitters in front of her not reaching base.
In fact, OU hit .227 (17 for 75) against Tennessee, or .149 (10 for 68) beyond Pickering.
Is there an ace, after all?
The most alarming thing out of last week may not have been OU dropping a home-field series to Tennessee, but its 19-16 victory at Wichita State in which Sooner pitching allowed 14 earned runs and 14 hits, five home runs included.
Kierston Deal — 2 1/3 innings, six earned runs — and Paytn Monticelli — 2/3 of an inning, five earned runs — struggled to the point Gasso brought Landry to the circle in the fourth inning despite her having thrown two complete games the previous weekend, just to exit victoriously.
The Sooners did, but not without Landry being hit hard, too — four innings, five hits, five runs (three earned) — before she was beaten twice by the Vols.
OU doesn’t need an ace to continue to win a bunch of games, but it could sure use one come the postseason. If it’s going to be Landry, and if she’s going to start each Friday and Sunday, maybe she shouldn’t throw four innings and 71 pitches on a Wednesday night in Wichita.
Standings shakeup
Despite losing twice to Tennessee, the Sooners have dropped just one spot in the SEC standings. Texas leads at 7-2, followed by OU at 9-3, followed by four teams at 6-3: LSU, Florida, Texas A&M, Mississippi State.
It really is a gauntlet.
Until next time …