OU softball chalks up two more, 61-game winning streak

A second chance for McNeese State against OU softball, and it tried to make it count. It wasn’t the laugher of some of the others, but the Sooners did enough and continue having that target on their back.

A couple of timely hits combined with lights out pitching, and OU earned a 3-0 victory against the host team of the Cowgirl Classic on Saturday night.

OU left eight runners on base through the first five innings, so Cydney Sanders took that out of the equation with a solo home run in the sixth inning.

The Sooners got on the board with two in the first, RBIs from Riley Ludlam and Tiare Jennings.

Then it was that pitching depth on full display. It started with Karlie Keeney. We saw S.J. Geurin for the first time in her career (.2 innings pitched). And Nicole May was as brilliant as it comes in relief with five strikeouts in 2.1 innings pitched.

Kelly Maxwell finished the job in the seventh to push the OU winning streak to 61 games.

OU 8, Lamar 0 (5)

If there’s one pitcher head coach Patty Gasso wanted to see get going just a bit more, it was Kierston Deal. She’s going to have a much bigger role this season, but it was an off outing last weekend.

Not so much this time around. Deal was, well, dealing, and the Sooners offense got rolling and put this one away rather quickly.

A dominant outing from the sophomore. Deal pitched all five innings, allowing just one hit and striking out 10.

Kinzie Hansen and Tiare Jennings both hit solo home runs. Rylie Boone continued her fantastic tournament with a two-run hit. And then Riley Ludlam closed the show with a two-run single.

OU 8, McNeese State 1 (Friday)

It’s just a luxury OU softball has that not many teams have. The offense doesn’t always have to be clicking, at least right off the bat.

The Sooners have the arms in the circle who can neutralize any attack. The Cowgirl Classic got a taste of that with Nicole May in one game and then Kelly Maxwell in the next.

What resulted were two more victories for OU, pushing its record winning streak to now 59 games. OU defeated host McNeese State 8-1 on Friday night. The Sooners took care of Central Arkansas 9-0 (5 innings) earlier in the day to begin the event in Lake Charles, La.

McNeese State is expected to give OU the best game(s) of the weekend and actually led 1-0. But Maxwell dominated from that point forward, and the offense came alive.

Alyssa Brito closed the show with a two-run home run in the top of the sixth. Rylie Boone had a two-run single to get things started in the second.

From there, just let Maxwell work. She pitched five scoreless innings, allowing three hits, the one run, zero walks with eight strikeouts.

Karlie Keeney continued to show her ability to work in relief, pitching two scoreless innings to close it out.

OU 9, Central Arkansas 0 (5) (Friday)

The Sooners couldn’t get things going early, but it didn’t matter with Nicole May in the circle. And then the OU offense came alive.

OU scored all nine of its runs in the fourth inning to earn its second run-rule victory this season.

May was locked in, throwing four scoreless innings. She allowed one hit, one walk and struck out six in earning her 50^th career victory.

Rylie Boone had a two-run triple. Avery Hodge also had an RBI triple. Ella Parker drove in two runs in the nine-run frame.

Jayda Coleman had another of her incredible catches in the outfield as well.

Up next

The Cowgirl Classic concludes with one last battle. No. 1 OU (8-0) takes on Central Arkansas at 11 a.m. Sunday. The game can be watched on SoonerSports.com.