Oklahoma punishes Tennessee's pitchers in 9-0 run rule

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma has seen it all at the plate this season. 

Teams have attempted to throw multiple pitchers at the Sooners’ No. 1 offense, opting to not throw the same pitcher an entire game, even if she’s their ace. That’s what No. 4 Tennessee did Saturday, hoping to throw No. 1 Oklahoma off its game. 

Surprise – it didn’t work. Instead, the Vols were run-ruled 9-0 in five innings, throwing four pitchers at the Sooners.

“Teams can do whatever they want. But at the end of the day it’s going to be up to us. Stick to our game plan, trust each other,” said junior Tiare Jennings, who hit a three-run home run in the second inning. “And 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. 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.

“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.”

Tennessee surprisingly started freshman Karlyn Pickens in the circle. Many believed it would be the Vols’ ace, senior Ashley Rogers, who has the second-lowest ERA in the country this season. Jennings’ three-run homer ended Pickens’ day in the circle.

Less than two innings in, Tennessee made the wrong choice of not going with Rogers.

“I felt like Karlyn presented a pretty good option to start with,” Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said of her decision. “And I didn’t plan on anyone going the full game or letting them see anybody too many times. I thought that was something else important in terms of just trying to keep them off balance. We planned to throw different people at ’em. The people we put in there I thought had the pitches in their arsenal that would be most successful. We didn’t execute in a lot of those instances, but ultimately that decision is on me.”

Pickens nearly made it through two innings. But after a groundball from junior Jayda Coleman that would have ended the inning got by her, the Vols never recovered. 

Freshman Charlie Orsini – who had only pitched 14 innings coming into Saturday – replaced her. Senior Kinzie Hansen‘s two-run homer in the third inning ended Orsini’s day, though. Sophomore Nicola Simpson didn’t last long in the third, either, giving up four runs thanks to senior Rylie Boone’s triple. And junior Ryleigh White closed it out for the Vols. She was the only Tennessee pitcher to not allow a run. 

“A lot of teams try to pull us out of our game plan. Distract us with a lot of things that are said about us, they say to us,” Hansen said. “The ultimate goal for us is to keep our blinders on, stay linked arm in arm. That’s when we’re at our best.”

For Oklahoma, it didn’t matter who Tennessee put in the circle Saturday. The Sooners have seen some of the best pitchers in the country this season. Last week, it was national player of the year candidate Valerie Cagle of Clemson. On Thursday, it was freshman phenom NiJaree Canady of Stanford. 

And while the Sooners didn’t see Rogers on Saturday, it’s likely safe to assume the end result would have been the same. 

“For us, pitching against us has prepared us for this. I will go back to our super regional, I’ll go to Stanford. Those were tough battles for us,” Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso said. “This group feels if they can beat those pitchers, they can beat everybody. So before we even play, it’s that mentality of that kind of wave that’s building saying, we’re prepared, we’re ready for this. I think that has really enabled us to have confidence coming in here.”

All four Oklahoma pitchers see the field

Oklahoma went with sophomore Jordy Bahl in the circle Saturday. And she was stellar, striking out four, allowing only one hit, and walking only one batter. Bahl pitched 3.2 innings before was replaced by senior Alex Storako, who finished the fourth inning and started the fifth. Freshman Kierston Deal entered in the fifth and recorded one out. And junior Nicole May came in for the final out. 

Gasso said getting her top four pitchers in the game Saturday was important. It was especially important Storako and Deal, who have never played in the Women’s College World series. 

“These young transfer kids that come here and they say, ‘I want to come here because I know you know how to get there and that’s my dream,’” Gasso said. “For Alex, she’s one of those. To get that moment on the mound was her dream come true. You’re seeing Haley Lee, Cyd Sanders, Alynah Torres. They’re all thriving, but they’re thriving because of the people around them. 

“Everybody out there is just raising the confidence right now, and it’s really enjoyable to be a part of.”

A well-deserved day off

Oklahoma will have Sunday off as it prepares for the winner of Stanford and Washington/Florida State. It will have to win one game Monday to advance to the championship series on Wednesday. 

So what will the Sooners do on their day off? Watch softball of course. 

“They like to relax, but they watch softball,” Gasso said. “They want to get away from softball, but they like to watch other people play softball. I don’t know. I know they do, and they’re very emotional when they’re watching it. Like, ‘Oh, what a great hit.’ It could be anybody. Doesn’t matter what team’s playing. They enjoy watching good softball. I don’t know if it relaxes them because they’re yelling and screaming over it. They like to learn from it, and they like to also kind of quietly see what they’re up against, as well.”