Nicole May brilliant in helping OU softball open up Norman Regional with the win
It took a while for OU softball to figure out Cleveland State at the plate, but it didn’t matter with the way Nicole May was throwing.
The third time around, and the Sooners found their groove. And May never let up as OU fought its way to the 9-0 six-inning, run-rule victory against the Vikings in the Norman Regional on Friday night at Love’s Field.
The victory puts OU in the winners’ bracket of the double-elimination weekend. The Sooners will play Oregon 2 p.m. Saturday.
“I thought it started off as a really competitive game,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “I thought Cleveland State’s pitcher – she’s really good. Effective, handcuffing some of us, really tough on righties. But there were some battles that really got our team going. I kind of look back at Alyssa Brito, even though she struck out. She fouled off, fouled off, those are the fighting at-bats we’re looking for.
“Called a lot of action plays tonight, executed to a T. Defense was on-point. Nicole May, with Karlie Keeney, was outstanding. But I give credit to Cleveland State, I do. I thought they made some really good plays. They were not afraid of us. No one here is afraid of us. We need to understand it’s going to be a dogfight. They came to battle. They made us better tonight.”
It was just 1-0 with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. And then the OU bats came to life and started to show that clutch two-out hitting.
Rylie Boone (single), Jayda Coleman (triple), Ella Parker (single) went back-to-back-to-back with run-producing hits.
At 4-0, you could officially breathe. But really you could at 1-0 after Kasidi Pickering’s solo home run in the second inning.
Even though May gave up a few hits, she was as dominant as she has been all season. The momentum was absolutely there after her dynamite outing out of the bullpen last Saturday in the Big 12 championship against Texas.
May retired the final five against the Longhorns and adds another five innings with her performance Friday. She is now 13-2 this season.
May gave up three hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out nine in just 72 pitches. Karlie Keeney finished the shutout.
“It felt good coming in,” May said. “Just was just trying to compete like she was saying and feeing balls to my defense and letting them work as well. So it just felt good and neutral.”
Pickering, the freshman, added a second solo home run in the fifth inning. She now has nine home runs this season.
OU put the game away in the bottom of the sixth. Parker had a two-run double, and senior Tiare Jennings sent everybody home with a two-run home run.
Up next
Time for Oregon and a familiar face in head coach Melyssa Lombardi. The Ducks were dominant in taking down No. 3 seed Boston University 8-0 in a five-inning, run-rule victory. Oregon hit a couple of home runs and pitcher Elise Sokolsky did the rest. The Ducks are now 28-19 overall. OU earned victory No. 50 this season Friday.
“Weird, but fun. I was able to take her, Syd, her staff around here,” Gasso said. “And that was really, really cool. It made me feel something that is going to allow me to be on the field and not get caught up in emotion or anything. It was just like we did this together, was good.”
OU vs. Oregon – 2 p.m.
Boston vs. Cleveland State – 4:30 p.m. (Elimination game)
Loser OU/Oregon vs. Winner BU/CSU – 7 p.m. (Elimination game)
