OU softball sends the message, takes home Big 12 title
OKLAHOMA CITY – It was a strange feeling seeing a No. 4 next to OU softball entering this week. Maybe even stranger than seeing a No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament.
Both don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, and OU reminded everybody just a bit about who it is. The Sooners were masterful in the Big 12 Tournament, concluding it with a 5-1 victory against No. 1-seed Texas in the championship on Saturday night at OGE Field at Devon Park.
The final Big 12 Tournament for the Sooners. Only fitting to add one more trophy to the case. The win gives OU 24 titles in the Big 12 (15 regular season, nine Big 12 Tournament).
Heading into the week, you could hear the optimism from head coach Patty Gasso. The confidence was back, and it was time to remind the softball world who this group is.
Not as dominant as last year’s championship team, hey, who is? But when the parts are working together like they did in Oklahoma City, still one to watch.
OU took advantage of some costly Texas errors, and then let Kelly Maxwell earn a Big 12 championship victory to go out in style.
The Sooners scored two in the top of the first with and RBI double from Tiare Jennings and an RBI from Kinzie Hansen. That hit marked the 300th in Jennings’ career, becoming just the fourth OU player to accomplish that feat.
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Hansen drove in two runs. Freshman Ella Parker had two hits and scored twice.
From there? Just let Maxwell work. Maxwell was brilliant in 5.1 innings, allowing just two hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Leaving with runners on first and second with one out, it was time for senior Nicole May to close the UT threat in the bottom of the sixth.
That’s exactly what May did, with a fly out and a strikeout. You could hear the OU crowd basically start to celebrate the championship after that one.
May finished the job in the seventh, and the celebration could officially be on. And it definitely was. A team that looked rattled just as recent as last Saturday is now crowned again.
Selection Sunday
OU just made its case. At 49-6 overall and the Big 12 champion, was that enough in a weekend to go back to the No. 1 overall seed? The Sooners and everybody else will find out their fate 6 p.m. with the Selection Sunday show.
