Sooners Blank Bears 7-0 in Opener to Grab Win No. 40
The top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners took game one against the only team that’s beaten them all season, and they made a statement in taking it. They blanked the 19th-ranked Baylor Bears 7-0 Friday evening at Getterman Stadium, just barely falling short of the run-rule feat they’ve achieved 22 times already this season.
Oklahoma, victors now of a nation-long 32 games in a row, got on the board for the first time in the top of the second. First baseman Cydney Sanders smacked a solo homer off a car over the left field fence.
In the third, shortstop Grace Lyons singled up the middle to score second baseman Tiare Jennings. It would quickly get worse.
In the fourth, a pair of errors plated two more. A missed catch by the left fielder, and a boot by the shortstop served as those. Third baseman Alyssa Brito followed with an RBI double down the left field line, and it was 5-0.
The Sooners added their final two tallies in the top of the fifth. Pinch hitter Sophia Nugent rifled an RBI double off the left center wall, and center fielder Jayda Coleman singled her home with a hit to left.
All the while, Oklahoma’s pitching stymied Baylor’s hitting. The Bears mustered only four combined hits off starter Jordy Bahl and reliever Nicole May.
Bahl, who struck out 10 and scattered only the three hits and one walk in 5.2 innings, improved to 13-1 on the season. May fanned one while also permitting just a single hit in the final 1.1 innings.
Baylor starter Dariana Orme, fantastic earlier this season against the Sooners, lasted only 3.2 innings and gave up five runs, three earned, on eight hits and two walks. She struck out four.
Bears reliever Kaci West tossed the final 3.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits and four walks. She fanned a pair.
The two reconvene for game two of the series at 2 p.m. CT Saturday.
