Oklahoma softball players react to Tennessee's plan to use multiple pitchers

Oklahoma‘s softball dominance continues, as a 9-0 win over Tennessee Saturday advanced the Sooners to the semifinal round of the Women’s College World Series. The Lady Vols threw four different pitchers on the mound versus the Sooners on Saturday to give them a variety of different looks in the batter’s box. But this tactic is a familiar one for Oklahoma, as junior infielder Tiare Jennings explained how herself and the team adjusted.

“Yeah, I just think it’s important that we saw it early in the season and kind of stuck to a game plan, learned how to adjust off it,” Jennings said. “I mean, I didn’t know that was going to happen today, but it ended up working out for us, sticking on the game plan, no matter who was on the mound, we were going to make our adjustments.”

Jennings got things going for Oklahoma’s offense Saturday, hitting a three-run home run in the second inning to draw first blood for the Sooners to give them an early 3-0 lead. She’s led the Sooners in postseason home runs this year with five and has 17 on the season for Oklahoma. She’s also racked up 26 runs batted in across during her three Women’s College World Series appearances, just two RBIs away from tying Jocelyn Alo’s school record.

Tennessee’s musical chairs on the mound also didn’t faze senior catcher Kinzie Hansen, who had a two-run homer in the following inning that opened up an offensive onslaught for the Sooners in the third.

“I think a lot of teams have a lot of different tactics to throw at us every single game. It was something we were surprised by but excited for. It’s a new challenge every day,” Hansen said. “We weren’t technically expecting it, but when it came and we found out who was starting, who was coming in and just the different strategies people try to throw at us, we were excited for those challenges, and it makes us better going forward.”

The Sooners getting even better is a scary idea for the rest of the World Series field, as Oklahoma secured their NCAA Division I record 50th straight win.

Hansen’s homer opened up a six-run inning for the Sooners that would result in run-ahead being enacted and Oklahoma wrapping the game up early in the fifth inning.

The Sooners are now a step closer to securing their third straight national championship, as they’ll take on Stanford Monday at noon ET in a Women’s College World Series semifinal game airing on ESPN.