SURPRISE!
Closer Lowary gets the start, leads OU past Arkansas
NORMAN — After playing 56 games, it would seem nearly impossible for the No. 4 Oklahoma softball team to surprise an opponent at this point in the season.
There’s 56 games worth of material for coaches to analyze. Hundreds of innings to scout.
And yet, OU coach Patty Gasso still found a way to use the element of the unexpected to boost the Sooners to a 7-2 win against Arkansas in the NCAA Super Regionals Friday afternoon.
With the victory, OU (54-3) can clinch a third consecutive Women’s College World Series berth in Saturday’s noon game against the Razorbacks (42-16) in a bestof-3 series.
“It’s important to really go after this first game because it puts you in the driver’s seat to where you want to be going forward,” Gasso said.
Gasso began Friday’s game by putting pitcher Paige Lowary in the circle for just her fifth start of the year.
Though Lowary started two games earlier in the postseason, the move was still a little out-ofthe-box. With Player of the Year finalist Paige Parker on OU’s pitching staff, most teams aren’t prepared for the Sooners to start their flame-throwing primary closer in the first game of a crucial series.
“If you’re preparing for Paige Parker and you’re facing Paige Lowary, you’re going, ‘What?’” Gasso said. “And vice versa. The beauty is, in postseason, we have a lot to work with. We’re not afraid of it.”
Though a little unexpected, the pitching decision didn’t jar Arkansas too much, and the Razorbacks were able to get two runners on in the first inning.
But Lowary and the OU defense recovered from the rocky start to hold the Razorbacks scoreless until the fifth when the Sooners surrendered the first run of the NCAA Tournament on a groundout RBI.
“We were a little surprised, but she had a big start last weekend in the regional,” Arkansas coach Courtney Deifel said. “It didn’t throw us too much. We knew we’d see one of the Paiges, and if not Lowary, we knew we’d see her at the end of the game. It didn’t change as much as just we got her a little earlier than we thought.”
Replaced by
sophomore Mariah Lopez in the seventh, Lowary pitched six innings and gave up one run on three hits.
Oklahoma’s knack for the unexpected also kept Arkansas’ defense off balance. The Razorbacks committed three errors and gave up two unearned runs.
Leading 5-1 in the fifth with pinch runner Raegan Rogers on third, Gasso called a squeeze bunt for Lea Wodach.
The catcher executed it perfectly, sprinting to first after she tapped the ball off her bat to score Rogers.
Not only did Wodach bring in a run, but a throwing error by pitcher Autumn Storms allowed Wodach to safely reach first.
“She probably should’ve been thrown out, but the unexpected — a lot of what we do is unexpected — that could cause a little bit of nervousness or bobble the ball,” Gasso said.
Because Parker didn’t throw Friday, she’s a top candidate to start Saturday’s game — especially with a Women’s College World Series berth on the line.
But when asked if it was safe to assume Parker was getting the nod, Gasso shook her head, chuckling as she walked off the podium.
“I’m saying nothing.”