OU softball takes final Bedlam game, No. 2 seed in Big 12 Tournament
All the familiar names for OU softball, but in order to get it done vs. Oklahoma State? The Sooners had to rely on a few players who weren’t on the team last season.
Freshmen Kasidi Pickering and Ella Parker at the plate, and senior Karlie Keeney in the circle. That trio made sure No. 2-ranked OU did not get swept in Bedlam at Love’s Field, helping OU to an 8-2 victory Sunday afternoon.
Tied 2-2 entering the bottom of the sixth, Jayda Coleman came through with an RBI single. Then it was time for Parker. The freshman crushed her 10th home run of the season, a three-run bomb that allow Love’s Field to celebrate just a little bit more.
“We needed it. We had two rough days that were very uncharacteristic of who we are and how we play,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “Today felt really good, much more like us. Timely hits, Karlie Keeney was fantastic. Good defense, everything was working. The energy was different.
“We’re still trying to figure this out. There’s something about this stadium that it’s so magnificent that the noise can really – I don’t know. We have to really keep on figuring this out. Because it can really help you, or it can rattle you a little bit being with the big crowd and all the noise, but we’re still getting more used to living in this space. Really happy and proud of what they did today.”
It was Parker that sparked the six-run sixth, after Pickering picked the team up back in the fourth.
Scoreless through three innings, Pickering finally came up with the big hit that OU couldn’t get in the first two games. An opposite field two-run home run, which was the first of the weekend.
And then there was Keeney. She came in relief Friday and Saturday and was the only OU pitcher to not allow a run. So head coach Patty Gasso rolled the dice and had Keeney start.
Keeney trusted her defense and went to work. Super efficient the entire time. Trusting that defense included a diving fielder’s choice final out in the top of the fifth by Tiare Jennings.
Keeney pitched five scoreless innings. Kierston Deal came in and allowed three straight singles and got one out. Gasso went back to Keeney, who gave up a two-run single but then shut the door.
Keeney threw 6.2 innings, allowing four hits, four walks and striking out three. She is 5-1 this season.
“It was probably the highlight of the game to us, because she’s just been waiting in the wings,” Gasso said. “And she’ll come in and, you know, fill in a hole here or there, but when we pulled her out, we thought, it’s time, because we haven’t let her go a full game.
“And then when KD got in trouble, the answer was bring her back in, and we’ll see what that looks like, and she handled it like a pro, so it just makes us feel really confident going forward that she’s ready to go in in the tough moments.”
After Parker’s home run, Tiare Jennings added a solo shot. Hannah Coor also had an RBI single.
A win that was probably more needed for OU than OSU at this point. Texas had already clinched the outright Big 12 championship earlier in the day. The win puts OU as the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. OSU is now the No. 3 seed.
If everything goes to plan, Round 4 of Bedlam would be Friday evening at USA Hall of Fame Stadium. But we’ve still got work to get done, first. And OU will have a few more days to see if it can get to that level it knows will be necessary rest of the way, like it did in the sixth.
Up next
Time for the Big 12 Tournament. OU (46-6 overall, 22-5 Big 12) is not the No. 1 seed and will have to wait until Wednesday to find out its opponent. No. 7 Kansas plays No. 10 Houston in the first round Wednesday at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. The Sooners will play the winner of that game 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Oklahoma City.
