Oklahoma softball begins regional play in style
Oklahoma softball head coach Patty Gasso knew the one word to describe her team’s performance Friday – efficient.
Expectations are high as the No. 1 overall seed. That can be a burden sometimes. This wasn’t one of those occasions. The Sooners opened up big and never let up to cruise to an 11-0 (5 innings) victory against fourth-seeded Hofstra to begin regional play at Marita Hynes Field.
The Sooners (52-1 overall) will play the winner of Missouri-California 2 p.m. Saturday. OU is now on a 44-game winning streak.
“I think time to play that first game you get a good win, you get it done efficiently and effectively, that’s the way you want to start,” Gasso said. “So proud of the way we got everything done quickly and efficiently.”
Oklahoma did a little bit of everything against The Pride. The Sooners were able to fight the wind and take it out the park a couple of times with Grace Lyons (two-run shot) and Jayda Coleman (two-run homer). OU also had some timely hits from Kinzie Hansen and Alyssa Brito.
Hansen went 3-for-3 with a two-run double and a two-run single.
“She looked really good,” Gasso said. “I thought her swing was so solid. She looked very confident and ready to play. So, it’s a good start for her, and we need her, so I was excited about that.”
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That was more than enough for junior pitcher Nicole May. She pitched four innings, allowing a single hit without a walk and five strikeouts. Alex Storako came in and closed the door in the fifth to give Oklahoma its 25th run-rule victory of the season.
“Nicole’s just always ready and waiting,” Gasso said. “So I had zero concerns about putting her on the mound today. Knew that she would start us the right way and she did. Very efficient. Extremely efficient with her pitching today. And that really gives your team a big boost behind her.
“You’re in and out. You’re not standing on the field for a long time with ball after ball. She’s just hammering the strike zone, getting ground outs, inducing fly outs, getting strikeouts. So I can’t ask for anything more today.”
Oklahoma had 12 hits and had a comfortable 5-0 lead after three innings before putting up a six-spot in the fourth to put itself in position for the run-rule victory.
