No. 1 Oklahoma (31-0, 3-0 Big 12) run-ruled Alabama-Birmingham (20-12) 11-1 in five innings on Friday evening in Norman.
Freshman pitcher Jordy Bahl struck out three batters and allowed one run on three hits in four innings. Sophomore Nicole May relieved Bahl in the top of the fifth inning and closed the game.
Sophomore utility Jayda Coleman, redshirt senior utility Jocelyn Alo and senior infielder Grace Lyons each launched a home run in the win. Lyons, who finished 2-for-3 with five RBIs, capped the Sooners’ victory with a walk-off grand slam during the bottom of the fifth inning.
Here are three takeaways from another Sooners offensive outburst:
Redshirt senior utility Jocelyn Alo during the game against Wichita State on March 29.
Sooners’ batters follow Alo's advice
After OU went scoreless in the first inning, Alo gathered her teammates in the dugout before the second inning.
Blazers' pitcher Olivia Valbak had kept the ball down in the strike zone early, forcing two straight ground outs. Following the advice of Alo, the lineup moved back in the batter's box.
“I was just telling them the adjustments that we needed to make as a unit,” Alo said. “It wasn't anything like trying to hype them up or whatever, but I knew the adjustments that we needed to make were very minimal ones.”
Ultimately, the Hauula, Hawaii, native’s plan worked and the Sooners’ bats adjusted. Immediately, during the bottom of the second, Coleman ripped a two-run home run to center field that scored redshirt senior utility Taylon Snow, which catalyzed OU to score nine more runs in the next three innings.
Head coach Patty Gasso felt Oklahoma was being too aggressive in the first inning when the Sooners grounded out twice and lined out once. After the offense settled in the final four innings, the lineup finished the game 8-for-20.
“I thought we were okay today,” Gasso said. “We all agreed we had a little bit of a slow start, but a lot of that was due to their pitcher doing a really good job and keeping us off balance.
"We were being a little over aggressive and chasing some pitches a little uncharacteristic of us, but (Alo) kind of set the tone for this team and kind of talked a little bit about how we should adjust.”
Redshirt senior utility Taylon Snow during the game against Wichita State on March 29.
Snow banged up
After redshirt senior infielder Jana Johns heaved a throw to first base, redshirt senior utility Taylon Snow extended her arm for the catch.
Snow failed to secure the throw as she was pummeled into the dirt by the Blazers’ runner and remained down for nearly a minute. Finally, Gasso helped her hobble back to the dugout to be examined by trainers.
For the rest of the game, Snow remained in the dugout. She finished going 1-for-1 with a double. Redshirt senior catcher Lynnise Elam took her place at first base while junior Kinzie Hansen entered as catcher.
“There’s no concussion-type symptoms, it was more of just a really sore neck,” Gasso said of Snow’s injury after the game. “Now she's having a hard time turning, but no concussions or anything like that. Not anything out of joint or anything like that.”
Freshman right-handed pitcher Jordy Bahl during the game against Wichita State on March 29.
Bahl ‘a little bit off’
Oklahoma's young right-hander Bahl gave up her 13th run of the season during the second inning on Friday after utility Lilly Crowe reached on a fielder’s choice.
Despite Bahl allowing just one run, Gasso felt like the freshman phenom could’ve delivered a better performance in the circle. Bahl was later relieved during the fifth inning by sophomore right-hander Nicole May, who allowed just one hit. After the game, Gasso noted that Bahl, a Papillion, Nebraska, native, was off on some pitches.
Notably, Bahl’s three strikeouts on 19 batters faced were the fewest she has garnered in five starts and her second fewest in an outing this season. Her previous low in strikeouts came against Minnesota on March 7, when she notched just one in three innings.
“She was a little bit off,” Gasso said. “She was throwing a few too many balls in the dirt, which is uncharacteristic of her. ... But with Jordy being so young and being in a position of where she's finding herself struggling, we wanted to let her struggle through that and see how she was doing.
"We could have kept her in the game and I felt like we could have had the same result.”
The Sooners' second matchup against the Blazers begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 2 in Norman.
