Oklahoma Sooners take game 2 from Texas behind fantastic pitching performance
Oklahoma Sooners take game 2 from Texas behind fantastic pitching performance
The Oklahoma Sooners won game two against the Texas Longhorns on Saturday night behind a masterful performance from junior Kierston Deal.
Deal threw seven innings, allowing four hits, two walks, and two earned runs. But through six innings, she had only allowed one hit and two walks, keeping Texas hitters off balance all night. By the time the Longhorns put something together in the top of the seventh, it was too little too late.
The Sooners offense staked Deal to a lead early in the third inning when Ella Parker homered to put OU on the board first. It was just Parker's seventh home run of the season and second of SEC play. In the bottom of the fourth, Oklahoma added a pair of runs to their lead after Ailana Agbayani scored from first on an Abigale Dayton double. Two batters later, Kasidi Pickering made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly.
But the Sooners offense wasn't done there. Dayton provided two more runs on an RBI single and Longhorns error that led to Nelly McEnroe-Marinas and Chaney Helton coming across the plate to make it 5-0. Then in the bottom of the sixth, the captain, McEnroe-Marinas provided the exclamation point with a two-run home run to put the Sooners up 7-0 heading into the seventh.
Although Texas was able to string together a few two out hits, including a two-run home run to help the Longhorns avoid the shutout, Deal was able to close out the game and get the win.
With the win, Oklahoma moved to 41-5 on the season and have sole possession of first place at 15-5. They're a game and a half up on Texas A&M after the Aggies dropped the first two games of their series to the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The Sooners and Longhorns will complete their three-game Red River Showdown series at Love's Field on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. That game can be seen on ESPN2.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
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