BEDLAM SOFTBALL: OU 3, OSU 2 Sooners on cusp of perfection
— Paige Lowary’s first pitch was rocketed back in her direction, a fierce liner that blew past her into center field and cut the Oklahoma softball team’s lead in half.
But that RBI single by Oklahoma State’s Sydney Pennington was the closest Lowary came to being touched in the Sooners’ 3-2 victory Friday at Cowgirl Stadium. After allowing a runner she inherited from Mariah Lopez to score, Lowary worked her way through 4 ⅔ innings of scoreless relief as No. 3 OU improved to a programbest 17-0 in Big 12 play.
“She loves these tough games and the setting,” OU coach Patty Gasso said. “She loves to kind of tag team with Mariah or whoever’s in the circle, so it’s kind of like this sisterhood that’s going on that they don’t want to let each other down.”
OU has gone 17-1 in Big 12 play three times, including the past two seasons, but never 18-0. A sweep of the Cowgirls would make the Sooners not only the second Big 12 team with an undefeated conference record, but also match a program record with 25 straight conference victories.
Lopez started in the circle for the Sooners but allowed three first-inning hits as the Cowgirls jumped ahead 1-0 on a Pennington single to score Vanessa Shippy.
The Sooners did not trail long, all of their runs coming in the second inning against OSU starter Emmie Robertson. Raegan Rogers and Lea Wodach hit consecutive RBI doubles to right-center. Sydney Romero added a run-scoring single later in the frame.
OSU threatened the lead in the third. Shippy, who led off the first with a double off Lopez, reached again with a walk to begin the inning. Madi Sue Montgomery sent a oneout single to right, bringing an end to Lopez’s outing.
Lowary then entered the circle. Although Pennington brought Shippy home on Lowary’s first pitch, the Sooners nabbed Montgomery, the potential tying run, at third base on an overaggressive attempt to advance.
Lowary retired the first two Cowgirls in the seventh before Shippy battled and earned an infield single. Lowary was unfazed, getting Taylor Lynch to ground out to second to end the game on her 62nd pitch.
It was the Sooners’ 19th straight Bedlam victory as they won their series with OSU for the seventh straight time, but Gasso said OU is after more than victories over rivals.
“We don’t get caught up in, ‘Oh, look what we did with OSU, look what we did with Texas,’” Gasso said. “... We are not a team that plays with big, caught-up emotion, and that’s what I think makes us good. We just stay on point.”