The No. 12 ranked Sooners completed the four game sweep in the Oklahoma Spring Festival, with a 11-1 run rule victory over Northern Iowa Sunday afternoon at Marita Hynes field. OU won all four games against Utah 12-1, 9-5 and Northern Iowa 4-1, 11-1 over the weekend to extend the Sooners’ home win streak to 9-0. The Sooners moved to 20-3 overall for the season following the weekend performances

“It’s always nice to play at home not just for your fans and familiarity of the field, but to sleep in our own beds,” head coach Patty Gasso said about long home field stance the Sooners took this past week. “The three weekend road trip was tough and school starts to wear on these guys this time of year. It has given us a chance to get our second wind.”

The Sooners dominated in the festival’s opening game against Utah 12-1 in five innings. Freshman pitcher Keilani Ricketts was the difference both at bat and on the mound. With a solo home run in the first by Utah’s Whitney Holm, the Sooners would need to battle to come from behind to win the game. Ricketts stepped up to the plate with bases loaded in the bottom of the first to give the Sooners a 5-1 edge over the Utes. Utah wouldn’t score the rest of the game, while the Sooners tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the second and three more in the bottom of the fourth. The Sooners scored 12 runs on five hits. Ricketts allowed just three hits, one walk, and one run for the game while striking out four batters through five innings. Ricketts moved to 11-3 for the season with the win.

The Sooners returned Saturday afternoon to face Northern Iowa in the first game of the double header. Ricketts struckout thirteen batters to lift the Sooners to a 4-1 win over Northern Iowa. The thirteen strikeouts is a personal best for the freshman. Ricketts came into the festival only needing nine strikeouts to reach her 100th strikeout for the season. Ricketts moved to 12-3 on the season with the win.

Junior infielder Dani Dobbs was the difference in Saturday’s second game, a come from behind 9-5 win against Utah. After the Sooners gained the lead for the first time in the bottom of the fifth inning off of a walk, junior infielder Dani Dobbs found the gap in right centerfield to score three runs to put the Sooners ahead 6-2. Previously, Dobbs had a home run for her only registered hit on the season.

The Sooners returned Sunday to wrap up the festival against Northern Iowa. Sophomore pitcher Allee Allen collected her first win of the season with a run rule win during Sunday’s game. It was Allen’s first start for the Sooners this year. Allen finished the game with two strikeouts to close the fifth inning rally as the Panthers scored for the first time in the game.

“If I was pulling for anyone it was Allee this weekend because it was her first opportunity to come out this season and get her feet wet,” Gasso said. “Everyone on this team and her colleagues in the bull pen would say the same thing.”

The Sooners scored early in the bottom of the second following a double by senior catcher Lindsey Vandever and a single by freshman centerfielder Brianna Turang. Vandever advanced to second on a wild pitch to Turang, putting the Sooners in scoring position for the first time of the game. Turang slapped a single passed Northern Iowa third baseman Sarah Bakey to score Vandever. Turang would steal her 12th base for the season to advance to second. Turang was perfect on the bases, going 12 for 12 until her next attempt during the same inning. Turang attempted to steal third base but was thrown out by Northern Iowa catcher Courtney Dunker. Sooner third baseman Dani Dobbs would strikeout to end the inning. The Sooners’ lone run would hold as both teams threatened to score up until the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Sooners batted through the line up and Northern Iowa changed pitchers twice as the Sooners registered 10 runs during the bottom of the fourth inning. Senior second baseman Amber Flores led off the inning by reaching first base on a hit by a pitch. Flores recorded her ninth and tenth hit by pitches this season during Sunday’s match up.

With Flores on first, freshman first baseman Jessica Shults lined out to short stop to record the first out of the inning. Vandever then singled through short stop to advance Flores to second. Turang laid down a bunt to load the bases. Third baseman Dobbs singled through short stop to score Flores and Vandever and extend the Sooners lead to 3-0. With Turang and Dobbs on first and second, sophomore Katie Norris singled in the right center field gap to score Turang from second. Dobbs advanced to third followed by Norris at second.

Scoring for the Sooners continued as sophomore short stop Karolyne Long hit an RBI single passed the Panther’s short stop to score Dobbs while Norris advanced to third base to extend the

Sooner’s lead to 5-0. Then, junior right fielder Haley Nix hit her eighth home run of the season to score three more runs for the Sooners. Junior right fielder Chana’e Jones would fly out to right field for the second out of the inning. Flores came up to bat for the second time of the inning and was hit by a pitch for the tenth time this season.

Junior Krystle Huey would pinch run for Flores and would steal second base on a passed ball to put the Sooners in scoring position again for the inning. Junior pinch hitter Wendy Trott would be called to the plate and would single passed third base to move Huey to third. Sophomore Evan Sallis would pinch run for Trott to put runners at third and first. Freshman pinch hitter Keilani Ricketts would also be called to the line up to get some batting experience for the usual starting pitcher. Ricketts matched Nix’s home run with one of her own to left center field, pushing the lead for the Sooners to 11-0. Northern Iowa would make their second pitching change of the inning after the Sooners threatened with two more base runners before Panther pitcher Eranne Daugharthy finished the inning with a pop out by Norris. The Sooners finished the game with 11 runs off of 13 hits.

“I was more of anxious and excited to start today’s game,” Allen said about her first performance. “I wanted to get out there and show the team what I’ve been working on.”

Following the team’s overall performance in the festival, Gasso was pleased with the improvements the team made to several areas in their game.

“We had talked about some things we need to try to change and keep momentum,” Gasso said. “One of the things we did, we left too many runners on base this weekend. We improved on that today[Sunday] and I think we’ve put that to rest. Even when we’re not at our best, we still finding ways to win.”

The Sooners next game is an addition to the OU schedule. The Sooners face the University of Missouri-Kansas City at 5 p.m. Monday evening at Marita Hynes field. Admission is free to fans for Fan Appreciation day.