Oklahoma softball spoils OSU’s upset bid

Oklahoma softball felt the taste of defeat one time back in February. The way head coach Patty Gasso explains it is it’s a feeling the team never wants to feel again.

They’re doing everything they can to make sure that happens. A four-run top of the seventh keeps the winning streak alive as the Sooners turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 victory at Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon.

Oklahoma is now 48-1 overall, 17-0 in Big 12 and on a 40-game winning streak. Oh, but No. 40 was not an easy one to get.

Freshman Jocelyn Erickson got the inning started with a leadoff double. Alynah Torres brought home pinch runner Jordy Bahl with a single to make it 2-1 OSU. And it was Tiare Jennings who delivered the big blow with a two-run double to give OU its first lead of the game.

Cydney Sanders would follow with an RBI single, and OU was on its way toward clinching another Big 12 series.

Take a deep breath.

Freshman pitcher Kierston Deal shut the door in relief to earn the biggest win of her young OU career, not allowing a hit in 1.1 innings pitched.

Takeaways from the couch

*Gasso has stressed this team doesn’t fear being behind, doesn’t fear losing. We saw that last month down 3-1 to Texas in the bottom of the seventh to win 4-3. It was the exact same feeling. It doesn’t matter how dormant the bats had been up to that point. There is just a certain energy that says the Sooners will figure it out when it matters most.

*How about sticking with Deal? Deal came in with two outs in the sixth inning in relief for Nicole May and earned a strikeout to end the frame. But after OU put up the four-spot, ESPN broadcast was wondering if it would be Deal or super senior Alex Storako? Gasso stuck with Deal, who delivered a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh and looked incredibly comfortable in such a hostile environment.

*One word to describe Tiare Jennings – clutch. Not sure if quietly is the right term, but Jennings has simply gone about her business all season and become someone Gasso knows she can trust at all times. There was zero panic when she was up with two runners on and one out in the seventh inning.

*What’s left in the OSU gas tank? After OU beat the Horns with a seventh-inning comeback, UT had nothing left the following day and suffered a run-rule defeat. The Cowgirls have lost nine of their last 11, punctuated by Saturday’s heartbreaker. Very intriguing to see the body language and mentality and what Kenny Gajewski can do to get them going again. You would assume Storako is going to get the call in the circle for the Sooners.

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