Coleman help lift Sooners past UIC in home opener
NORMAN — For four innings of Friday’s home opener against Illinois-Chicago, Jayda Coleman accounted for all of OU softball’s offensive output.
With Nicole May in the circle, it didn’t much matter.
In the fifth, though, the Sooners’ offense came alive, giving May some breathing room in an eventual 5-0 win over the Flames at Marita Hynes Field.
OU was scheduled to take on Kentucky at 5:30 p.m. in the second game of the doubleheader.
Coleman gave OU the lead quickly, blasting a 2-1 pitch over the left-center field wall to lead off the bottom of the first. But Flames pitcher Christina Toniolo kept the Sooners’ high-octane offense in check other than that.
The only other hit OU managed on Toniolo was Coleman’s third-inning double that was inches away from clearing the right-field wall.
May made sure the Sooners kept the lead.
She kept UIC’s hitters off-balance all day, allowing just two hits and striking out a career-high 11.
Coleman finished 3 for 4, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.
Haley Lee gave the Sooners some breathing room with a fifth-inning, pinch-hit home run and Rylie Boone added another two-run shot in the sixth.
Here are two other takeaways from the opener:
Jennings out of the lineup
Tiare Jennings had started all 136 games of her Sooners career. But when Sooners coach Patty Gasso filled out the lineup card for Friday’s home opener vs. Illinois-Chicago, Jennings was not on it.
Jennings had started the Sooners’ previous 129 games at second base.
Instead, Quincee Lilio started at second against the Flames.
With a runner on first and one out in the fourth, Jennings pinch hit for Alyssa Brito. Jennings battled through an 11pitch at-bat before popping up to second. Jennings is hitting .390 with three home runs and 14 RBIs this season.
Softball giveth, Jennings taketh away
Things tend to even out over time in softball.
Friday, it took just three plate appearances for the ledger to draw even.
In the top of the sixth, UIC’s Anna Walker fought off a Nicole May pitch and sent it spinning just down the first-base line.
The ball took a bounce toward foul territory and appeared to be destined to be a foul ball so May let it be as Walker sprinted down the line.
But instead of bounding foul, the ball stuck on the infield dirt and spun in place, finally coming to rest on the line, giving Walker a hit and drawing a skyward look of disbelief from May.
But Tiare Jennings made sure things evened out.
After a sacrifice moved Walker to second, Jennings leapt into the air to snag Carlee Jo Clark’s hard line drive to keep the Flames scoreless.