Oklahoma
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+.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma lawmakers ask Supreme Court to let customers join ONG rate hike case
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — As an Oklahoma utility company seeks a multimillion-dollar rate increase, two Oklahoma state representatives are asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to give customers a voice.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is currently deciding on a $29 million rate increase for Oklahoma Natural Gas.
If approved, officials say it would mark the fourth rate hike the OCC has approved for ONG in the last four years and has led to an $128 million increase in customer bills.
Rep. Tom Gann, R-Inola, and Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, have filed an appeal with the Oklahoma Supreme Court, saying customers weren’t given a chance to participate in the case.
“The OCC has gone completely off the beam,” ONG customers Gann and Kevin West told the Supreme Court in their June 17 petition.
In the filing, they claim that the OCC set a March 27 deadline to intervene in ONG’s rate case but only set it after the deadline had already passed.
They say ONG’s customers weren’t notified about the case until late April.
“This case was rigged from the start to keep ONG ratepayers out,” said Gann. “The federal courts have said utility customers have constitutional due process rights – including a right to timely and adequate notice about these cases. We are asking the Supreme Court to uphold customers’ rights and require the OCC to change its rules to respect them. ONG ratepayers should be allowed to exercise their right to participate without being muzzled.”
The commissioners are expected to make a final decision on the $29 million rate increase later this year.
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ONG, the OCC, and the attorney general have 30 days to respond to Gann and Kevin West’s latest ONG appeal.
Oklahoma
Most Oklahoma voters didn’t cast a ballot during June’s primary election
Just 26%, or about one in four registered Oklahoma voters, cast a ballot in the race, according to an analysis of the results.
In total, 630,085 people weighed in on a state question to gradually increase the minimum wage. It was the only race open to Democrats, Republicans and independents, who weren’t eligible to vote in partisan races.
Democrats have typically opened their closed primaries to include independents, but failed to submit the paperwork for this year’s primaries on time. Some voters expressed frustration with the system on election day.
This year’s polls drew fewer voters than in 2018, the last time there was a similar gubernatorial race without incumbents. The election included a state question to approve medical marijuana, and 44% of registered voters cast ballots.
There are almost 1.3 million registered Republicans in Oklahoma, but the GOP race for governor only garnered about 400,000 ballots. Out of more than 613,000 registered Democrats, only about 172,000 voted in Tuesday’s election.
Even though general elections are usually better attended, Oklahoma’s numbers were also low during the 2024 presidential election. One report from the University of Florida rated Oklahoma’s turnout at the time as the lowest in the nation.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Adds OF Adi Hansen From Southern Idaho
NORMAN — Oklahoma softball’s transfer portal activity may have been fairly slow developing.
But now, as the portal window nears its end, the Sooners have started having success.
Oklahoma added outfielder Adi Hansen, a standout at the College of Southern Idaho for the last two seasons on Thursday.
Hansen’s announcement, made on Instagram, followed shortly after Middle Tennessee outfielder Macie Harter announced her commitment to the Sooners.
Hansen led the Golden Eagles with a .457 batting average in 186 at bats in 2026, with an eye-popping 82 runs scored and a school-record 62 stolen bases on 67 attempts.
Hansen had 17 games with two or more stolen bases this season and twice had four stolen bases in a game.
Hansen had four triples and 21 RBIs, drawing 23 walks.
She earned NJCAA first-team All-America honors, helping her team finish 43-13 with a NJCAA Division I Juco World Series appearance.
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In 2025, as a freshman, Hansen hit .401 with 36 stolen bases and 62 ruyns scored.
Hansen is a Logan, Utah, product.
Hansen and Harter join a group of outfielders that includes Kai Minor in centerfield and Ella Parker in right field.
The Sooners lost Abby Dayton to graduation and Kasidi Pickering to transfer after the season. Pickering will reportedly transfer to Texas Tech.
Oklahoma finished 52-10 last season, missing the Women’s College World Series for the first time since 2015 after falling to Mississippi State in three games in the Norman Super Regional.
The Sooners have a strong incoming recruiting class and return a trio of pitchers — Audrey Lowry, Miali Guachino and Allyssa Parker — as well as experienced hitters Kendall Wells, Gabbie Garcia, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas plus Minor and Ella Parker.
In addition to the departures of Dayton and Pickering, the Sooners also lost pitchers Sydney Berzon and Kierston Deal, first baseman Isabela Emerling, and second baseman Ailana Agbayani to graduation. Outfielder Tia Milloy, pitcher Berkley Zache and utility player Riley Zache also entered the transfer portal.
Oklahoma’s incoming class includes Edmond Santa Fe pitcher Keegan Baker, Lakewood, Calif., infielder Ki’ele Ho-Ching, Mililani, Hawaii, infielder Ori Mailo, Fullerton, Calif., pitcher Malaya Majam-Finch, Katy, Texas, pitcher EK Smith, and Mesa, Ariz., outfilder Payton Westra.
Mailo was with the Sooners this season, redshirting after joining the program a year early.
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