Oklahoma Rolls to 10-1 Win over KU in Big 12 Softball Tournament
When Kansas piled up three hits and a run in the top of the first inning against Oklahoma starter Kelly Maxwell, it felt like we might be in for a weird afternoon in Oklahoma City.
The bottom half of the inning, however, brought about more expected results. The Sooners’ offense drew two walks to start the game and added four hits to answer with five runs of its own in the first frame.
Oklahoma would go on to win the contest 10-1, advancing them to a semifinal matchup against BYU on Friday after a five-inning run-rule against the Jayhawks.
After giving up a trio of hits to start her tournament, Maxwell settled in and held KU hitless for the rest of her time in the circle, going 3.0 IP with two strikeouts, two walks, and one earned run.
Both defenses played well in the outing, with both teams committing one error a piece.
Kansas was incredible in the leadoff spot, though, going 4-of-5 (.800) to start innings against one of the top teams in the country. Unfortunately, the Jayhawks’ offense went just 3-of-18 (.167) at the plate and just 2-of-13 (.154) with runners on base, so they couldn’t capitalize on enough opportunities to make this more of a game.
The Sooners’ offense was not to be contained, though. They exploded for nine hits, going 10-of-20 (.500) at the plate and 6-of-13 (.462) with runners on. After a couple of challenging weekends leading up to the tournament, this was a promising sign for OU as things turned over to the postseason.
