BEEN THERE, DONE THAT
OU is calm, collected in run-rule win
NORMAN — Sitting at the dais after Oklahoma’s 9-0 win against Boston University, coach Patty Gasso paused, searching for the right word to describe her team.
The final score suggested a total domination of the Terriers, but the 1,738 fans at Marita Hynes Field saw something a little different.
The two teams were locked in a pitching duel through 3 ½ innings, neither side able to break through.
Senior ace Paige Parker was dealing, facing the minimum in the opening two frames and striking out three. Patriot League Pitcher and Rookie of the Year Ali DuBois faced just seven OU batters in the first two frames, striking out one.
This was a team OU had history with, a team that handed OU one of its three losses during the regular season.
Clinging to just a 1-0 lead entering the bottom of the fourth, the Sooners could have lost their poise. Instead, they held it together. Why? Because they’ve been there before.
“We’re not tense. This team is so,” Gasso said, pausing as she looked for that elusive word.
“They’re tested. This team has been tested. So they know how to handle situations and getting tight is not something that this team does.
“We’ve been in some tough games this season where we’re down 6-0 going into the fifth inning against a team and we came back. Tenseness is not in our vocabulary. We just come out and trust what we’re doing, and if it’s not good enough on that day, then it’ll be good enough the next day.”
What OU did in the bottom of the fourth inning was certainly good enough Friday night.
The Sooners opened up the frame by getting their leadoff hitter aboard as DuBois walked sophomore Nicole Mendes.
It took just two more at-bats for OU to load the bases on a single by Fale Aviu and an error that allowed senior Kelsey Arnold to reach first.
After senior catcher Lea Wodach flied out, Sydney Romero stepped to the plate.
The junior, who’s been at the top of OU’s order since mid-March, had been swinging early in the count of her previous atbats.
She opened the game with a first-pitch ground out and fouled out to first base in the second pitch of her second at bat.
This time, she patiently waited for the perfect one.
She found it in DuBois’ third pitch, smashing the ball to right center field.
BU’s Emma Wong dove for the ball and missed it, giving the Sooners ample time to score in Romero’s bases-clearing triple.
“I told myself I was going take a few more pitches,” Romero said. “I felt I was
being a little overly aggressive and not swinging at pitches I could hit. I took more pitches, and I saw more and I executed.”
Freshman Jocelyn Alo brought Romero home in the next at bat, smashing her 25th home run of the season over the center field wall.
Alo’s home run took DuBois off the mound in the first of two BU pitching changes made in the inning.
The Sooners wound up adding two more runs in the frame as they batted around the lineup.
By the time Kylie Lundberg flied out to end the inning, the Sooners had added eight runs on five hits in that frame alone — good enough to seal the run-ruled win and set up a 4 p.m. game Saturday against Tulsa.
“I think this team will tell you that they’ve come a long way,” Gasso said. “It’s important that we continue to go forward without getting caught up in emotion, getting caught up in who we’re playing or what we’re seeing or what an umpire is doing or anything like that.
“This team has a strong record for that reason. They’re very mature in their style, they’re very confident in their team. ... They get it. They know how to handle situations like no other team I’ve ever had.”