Pity poor Texas

Once again, Oklahoma struck again. Nothing new, it’s been happening all of this softball season. Well, it did lose three times, but nothing will keep it from hoisting a sixth NCAA national championship trophy unless Texas finds a miracle.

Wednesday, though, in the late afternoon at the Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, the Longhorns had no clue, not even a hint of bringing the top-seeded Sooners down before a packed house that for them is only about a 30-minute ride from their campus in Norman.

This time it wasn’t much, only a first inning very tight 3-2 pitch that the home plate umpire decided to call a ball with Mary Jakopo at bat. She backed away, but took the walk. Now with the bases loaded and two out, it brought unseeded Texas a run and, while the Sooners just collectively shrugged it off, their state and Big 12 rivals strolled home with a 1-0 advantage.

Senior right-hander Hope Trautwein was starting her fourth straight game for Oklahoma and got the next batter on flyball to left field.

And then, for the Sooners, it was a quick stroll to their dugout and the lead was short-lived ASAP. Lead-off batter sophomore Jayda Coleman lined the first-pitch rise ball from right-handed starter Hailey Dolcini to the fence in left-center. In stepped senior Jocely Alo, the college softball career leader in home runs and she clouted the first-pitch fastball over the fence in left field.

Whoops, not a good greeting for Dolcini, who been pitching very well and who went the route when her team topped visiting Oklahoma, 4-2, on April 23. That in face put a abrupt halt to the Sooners 24-game win streak. But not this time, in fact she’d be gone when back-to-back hits by sophomore Tiare Jennings and senor Grace Lyons brought up senior Taylon Snow hit one over the fence in right and it was now 5-1 and out came Longhorns head coach Mike White replaced a stunned Dolcini with freshman Sophia Simpson.

She lasted until Oklahoma loaded the bags again and White sent freshman Estella Czech to the circle. She got the final out, but just like that, the Sooners had already pieced together a 5-1 lead. Alo hit her 27th home run of this season and Snow her third of the campaign, and Coleman and Alo even batted twice in that busy frame in which Simpson wore some gear that the plate umpire told her to deposit in her locker.

When she came back out, senior Kenzie Hansen doubled to right, junior Rylie Boone beat out an infield hit down the first base line and Lyons singled up the middle to make it 6-1. Two runs short of the 8-run mercy rule, it won’t come here, for at this level, it has to be a seven inning final unless it needs to go into extra innings.

Well, after three frames it was already 10-0 and Coach White had just sent in his final hurler, junior Lauren O’Leary, a 6-foot-1 junior who had recently come off the injury list, but he had no choice, if he removed her, he would have to locate a player to pitch for the first time this year. Nothing doing here.

So O’Leary hurled the final three innings, Dolcini got the loss, Trautwein the win, her 24th in 25 starts, and sophomore Nicole May finished up. Thursday, head coach Patty Gasso could turn to righthanded freshman phenom Jordy Bahl, who injured her upper forehand six games back and hadn’t really been tested since. But with this one-game lead, Gasso might put her back in the circle where she went 22-1.

This became a six home run power game for Oklahoma, just one less than the seven it deposited in an April contest in April. In the second, Oklahoma was still putting people on the bases. Senior Kenzie Hansen doubled to right-center and senior Grace Lyons hit one up the middle to score her. Next, junior Lynnsie Elam and senior Grace Green both singled down the left field line and it was now 9-0 when senior Janis Johns hit a double near the foul line in left field.

When Coach White took Czech out and brought in Lauren O’Leary, a 6-foot-1 junior who recently came off the injury list, he was left with an empty bullpen, no more hurlers so he was left with O’Leary in the circle to finish up.

For the Sooners, players who didn’t see much action this season were especially the freshman Sophia Nugent, Hannon Coor, and Turiya Coleman. So Coor came in this time as a pinch-runner, Nuegnt pinch-hit and walked on a full count, and Coleman ran for Hansen in the fifth. Plus there was Snow who, as a freshman, shared first base with Grace following up her four-bagger with a walk and single the rest of the way, and Grace reached on errors twice.

The Longhorns weren’t as good in the field as usual and committed four errors, three more than Oklahoma, but the Sooners outhit them 14 to 3.

Tomorrow, Thursday, the sun will come up tomorrow and Texas is hoping it shines on it, but it would take much too much to spoil Oklahoma’s marvelous season when it was ranked top of the heap from day one. The Longhorns may have had high hopes, but the Sooners had visions of a second straight national championship.