Vols rally, OU softball drops first series of the season

The stage was set for OU and Tennessee softball. Both teams earned one game, and we were set for Sam Landry (OU) vs. Karlyn Pickens (Tennessee) in the circle.

Runs, hits were going to be at a premium. When you got your chances, you definitely need to take advantage of them.

Tennessee did just a little more in its inning that proved to be the difference in a 5-3 victory against the host Sooners on Sunday afternoon at Love’s Field.

It marks the first series loss of the season for OU, and the Sooners have dropped three of their last six games after the 28-0 start.

A series that head coach Patty Gasso knew she might learn a thing or two about her club. A good experience to take forward.

“Another great game. Tough game, tough game on our side,” Gasso said. “I like the way we started where we scored first and they answered very quickly. And you give that to a team that’s been around and they kind of know how to do that. I think this is a great learning opportunity for us. It’s humbling, but we know we’re not good enough. We’re winning, but we’re still not good enough. 

“That’s a World Series team we just played and they’ve got an elite, elite pitcher. And I thought we — we’re making contact, it’s just not going anywhere. And I felt like we were kind of trying to make contact versus swinging like (Pickering) has been swinging and just really trying to square the ball up and Pickering had a phenomenal weekend off of her and it’s a good example of tenacity and focus, but planning.

“And so we understand this felt really uncomfortable. It did not feel good watching this happen on our own field. But this is what this young team has to learn. As we go forward, it’s going to happen. 

Each team had one inning where it could put the pressure on. The Sooners scored three runs in the bottom of the third on a bases-clearing double by Kasidi Pickering.

But the Vols notched a five-spot in the top of the fourth. A rally that came out of nowhere. Landry, OU’s ace, had retired the first 11 batters of the game. A couple of walks, a two-run double and then a three-run bomb by Ella Dodge changed all that.

Landry kept the Vols (29-7, 5-4 SEC) at bay the rest of the way. But Pickens was up to the challenge time and time again.

OU could only muster four hits against the Vols’ ace. Abby Dayton had a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh before Pickens closed the door one more time. Pickens threw 122 pitches and finished by striking out Nelly McEnroe-Marinas.

Pickering went 15 straight plate appearances reaching base before striking out in her final battle vs. Pickens. Simply put, she said, gotta be better.

“One thing in the game I try to talk to everyone, is we just have to be better,” Pickering said. “Everyone needs to be better. Nobody up there is hitting the home run… Everyone has an opportunity to be better. And just knowing that Karlyn is good. I’ll give that to her. She’s amazing. But we trained all week for this. We should’ve executed better. We just have to be better moving forward.”

Landry threw all seven innings, allowing four hits, the five earned runs with two walks and six strikeouts. She threw a combined 248 (140, 108) pitches this weekend against Tennessee.

Up next

Back to the road for a midweek game. No. 2 OU (31-3, 9-3 SEC) heads to Texas-Arlington on Tuesday evening. The Sooners will not play an SEC opponent this week, coming back to Love’s Field over the weekend against St. Thomas and Central Florida.