Oklahoma thumps Northwestern in 5

OKLAHOMA 13, NORTHWESTERN 2 (5)

OKLAHOMA CITY — Tiare Jennings and Jana Johns hit grand slams and No. 1 seed Oklahoma rolled past No. 9 seed Northwestern 13-2 in five innings Thursday on the opening day of the Women’s College World Series.

The defending national champion Sooners pounded out 11 hits. Northwestern’s Danielle Williams (31-5) — a first-team NFCA All-American pitcher — lasted three innings and took the loss.

Oklahoma (55-2) advanced to play rival Texas on Saturday in their first ever World Series meeting. Texas is responsible for one of Oklahoma’s losses this season, though the Sooners won two of the three meetings. Saturday’s winner would be just one victory from a spot in the best-of-three championship series.

Oklahoma Coach Patty Gasso considers it a plus that the Sooners are familiar with the Longhorns.

“I think it’s a benefit,” Gasso said. “We know what we’re dealing with. We know what to work on. We’ve seen it three times.”

Northwestern (45-12) will play UCLA in an elimination game Friday.

Northwestern’s Rachel Lewis’ solo blast over the left field fence in the third inning opened the scoring. It was her 23rd homer of the season.

That was the only hit Oklahoma starter Hope Trautwein (19-1) allowed. She struck out 7 and walked 5 in 42/3 innings to claim the win.

“This is the biggest stage that anyone will ever play on, so I really stuck to my process,” Trautwein said. “Deep breaths. Slowing my heart rate down. Really focus on the game. Lynnsie Elam had told me some advice before I came in — look at the crowd once, and don’t look at them again. That’s what I did.”

Oklahoma took over in the bottom of the third. The Sooners tied it up on an RBI single by Johns that scored Rylie Boone. Williams walked Jocelyn Alo — the two-time USA Sotball Collegiate Player of the Year — to bring up Jennings with the bases loaded. Jennings, also a first- team All-American, put Williams’ first pitch over the fence in center field to give the Sooners a 5-1 lead and control for good. It was Jennings’ 25th home run of the season.

“I kind of just stuck to my timing like I did, and I kind of had a feeling that it was going to come first pitch, so I saw the ball up in the zone and just went from there.” Jennings said. TEXAS 7, UCLA 2

Texas freshman Mia Scott went 4 for 4 and helped the unseeded Longhorns defeat No. 5 seed UCLA.

Scott had a triple, a double and two singles. She knocked in two runs and scored once for the Longhorns (44-19-1), who hadn’t won a World Series game since a semifinal run in 2013.

Texas’ Hailey Dolcini held the Bruins to six hits in a complete-game victory. UCLA’s Megan Faraimo, a second-team NFCA All-American pitcher who missed last year’s World Series with a hand injury, took the loss.

Texas advanced to play Oklahoma on Saturday. UCLA (48-9) will play an elimination game against Northwestern today.

Texas broke through in the top of the third, highlighted by a two-run homer by Mary Iakopo that chased Faraimo and put the Longhorns up 4-0.

Texas’ Bella Dayton hit a two-run homer in the sixth that chased Holly Azevedo. It was just Dayton’s fifth homer of the season, and it put the Longhorns up 7-0.

Wisz broke up Dolcini’s shutout with a two-run homer in the sixth.

FLORIDA 7, OREGON STATE 1

Cheyenne Lindsey went 3 for 3 and scored three runs to help 14th-seeded Florida beat Oregon State.

Avery Goelz had two hits and knocked in three runs and Charli Echols hit a solo homer for the Gators (49-17).

Natalie Lugo (12-5) stepped in for starter Lexie Delbrey and got the win in six innings of scoreless relief. She gave up one hit and struck out six.

Oregon State’s Sarah Haendiges (13-7) pitched 42/3 innings and gave up seven runs on 10 hits in the loss.

Oregon State (39-21) opened the scoring on an RBI single by Frankie Hammoude in the top of the first inning.

Florida took the lead in the second when Goelz hit one down the first base line that Hammoude couldn’t come up with. Two runs scored on the error.

Goelz knocked in two on a single in the fourth, then Echols’ blast in the fifth made it 5-1.

OKLAHOMA ST. 4, ARIZONA 2

Karli Petty hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning and seventh-seeded Oklahoma State beat Arizona.

Petty’s fifth homer of the season helped the Cowgirls (47-12) advance to play Florida on Saturday. Kelly Maxwell (204), a NFCA first-team All-American, threw a complete game for the Cowgirls and struck out 14.

Oklahoma State closed out a perfect opening day for Big 12 teams after Oklahoma and Texas won earlier.

Hanah Bowen (13-11) took the loss for Arizona. The Wildcats (38-21) will play fellow Pac-12 member Oregon State in an elimination game today.