OU Softball: Oklahoma Rides Fast Start to Open Series With Win Over UCF

Oklahoma began its final Big 12 road trip with a bang. 

Patty Gasso’s team plated five runs in the first inning, complete with a two-RBI single from Kasidi Pickering and a two-run bomb from Alyssa Brito to set the tone for a steady win in the series opener. 

The No. 2-ranked Sooners went on to beat UCF 10-2 at the UCF Softball Complex on Friday.

OU (43-4. 19-3 Big 12) maintained its lead atop the conference with the win over the Knights (28-19, 10-12).

UCF helped the Sooners out immediately. 

Jayda Coleman beat out a throw for an infield single and Ella Parker reached on an error, putting immediate pressure on Kaitlyn Felton. 

The Knights’ starting pitcher didn’t help herself out, as she walked Tiare Jennings to load the bases with no outs. 

Kinzie Hansen broke the deadlock with an RBI-single, but Ella Parker was thrown out at home to make the first out of the game. 

Had Gasso kept Parker on third, she would have likely come home anyways. 

Pickering singled through the left side and Brito hammered a full-count delivery to left field, putting OU up 5-0 and ending Felton’s first stint of the evening after just six batters. 

Alynah Torres and Cydney Sanders both walked with one out, but OU was able to further the damage after Rylie Boone struck out and Coleman bounced out to second base. 

After building the lead, Oklahoma stayed aggressive and attacked pitches early in at-bats, which produced mixed results in the second inning. 

OU was able to load the bases with one out, but couldn’t bring any runs across. 

Coleman added to the lead in the third, however. 

The senior centerfielder stepped in and belted her 11th home run of the season, an opposite field bomb with two outs that put the Sooners up 6-0. 

Kelly Maxwell finally had to work around traffic on the basepaths in the bottom of the third inning. 

With Stormy Kotzelnick already on first, UCF third baseman Sierra Humphreys dropped a single into shallow-left field, but Boone was unable to corral the ball off the bounce, allowing the runners to move up to second and third. 

Only working with one out, Maxwell then made a nice play herself. 

Jada Cody slapped the ball back up the middle, which Maxwell gloved and shuttled over to first for the second out of the inning, then Maxwell trusted her defense and induced a ground ball from Chloe Evans to get out of the inning. 

UCF went back to Felton in the circle to start the fourth inning, which was the Knights’ fifth pitching change of the game. 

Both Felton and reliever Sona Halajian re-entered the game as UCF coach Cindy Ball-Malone never let OU’s offense get all the way through the lineup with the same pitcher. 

Felton frustrated Oklahoma upon her return, holding the Sooners off the board as the Knights tried to get into the game. 

A snafu in the field gave UCF a change to get on the board in the bottom of the fifth. 

Cody singled to center with two outs, but instead of simply getting the ball back into the infield, Coleman fired down to first base. 

Parker, who had been inserted into the defensive lineup at first in favor of the always steady Sanders, wasn’t ready for Coleman’s throw. The ball rolled into foul territory and allowed Cody to take second base on the throwing error. 

Maxwell looked unbothered, firing two straight strikes to Evans, but the UCF right fielder battled admirably. 

She didn’t allow Maxwell to coax her into a bad swing, and after taking three balls and fouling off three pitches, Evans doubled into the corner in right field to cut OU’s lead to 6-1.

Maxwell then issued a four-pitch walk, but struck out Shannon Doherty to end the inning. 

Oklahoma dialed back in on Felton in the seventh. 

It took just five total pitches for OU to load the bases. Hansen, Pickering and Brito all smoked singles through gaps and into the outfield.

The situation prompted another pitching change, as this time UCF called upon its fourth pitcher of the night in Ava Justman, ending Felton’s Friday. 

Avery Hodge was undeterred by the change, as she drew a walk to extend the lead back out to six runs. 

Boone poked her first hit of the day through the right side, narrowly missing Hodge, to put the Sooners up 8-1, and Coleman’s second walk of the day added to the advantage again. 

Oklahoma’s last run of the inning scored when Parker hit into a fielder’s choice, capping off the four-run frame. 

Up 10-1, Gasso left Maxwell in to record the first out of the seventh before turning to Karlie Keeney. 

Maxwell allowed eight hits and two walks, but struck out five and crucially limited the Knights to the lone run in 6 1/3 innings. 

Keeney swiftly notched the second out of the seventh, but she left her 1-2 delivery hanging and Evans pounced, clobbering a solo home run. UCF drew another walk off Keeney before she closed out the win.

The Sooners have a chance to notch the series victory on Saturday at 1 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.