No. 1 Oklahoma Stages Late Rally Against No. 7 Washington to Continue Historic Win Streak
Brito was walked by Washington pitcher Lindsay Lopez, who replaced ace Ruby Meylan in the starting lineup, bringing Kinzie Hansen to the plate.
The OU catcher did not disappoint.
Although Hansen was judged to have blocked the plate early, allowing Washington to score one run back, Colean’s throw really beat Hobson home.
The Huskies then went ahead.
The Sooners fell behind 3-2 for the first time this season when second baseman Jillian Celis ripped a May pitch down the right field line, loading the bases.
In the third inning, the Huskies were ahead thanks to a superb defensive play.
Torres crushed Lopez’s delivery to the farthest point in center field with two runners on and two outs.
However, Torres required an additional few feet of space.
After Carter made a spectacular catch at the wall, bringing the ball back into play, the inning was ended, leaving Oklahoma’s fifth and sixth runners of the evening stranded.
In the fourth inning, with Washington holding a 3-2 lead, Washington manager Heather Tarr went to her ace Ruby Meylan.
The right-hander’shardpitches frustrated the hitters for OU. After a third strike was dropped, Coleman was the only base runner for the Sooners in either the fourth or the fifth inning.
In the top of the sixth inning, everything changed.
After bouncing off two balls to Meylan, Sanders eventually drew a leadoff walk to get the Sooners off to a good start.
Torres put Ludlam in a great position to pinch hit by hitting a hard-hit ball to the wall in foul territory down the left field line, moving Maya Bland, who was asked to pinch run for Sanders, to second.
And the graduate transfer fulfilled its promise.
To give the Sooners new life in Mexico, she lifted a ball into center field, plating Bland and tying the score at 3-3.
Then, after Paytn Monticelli gave a walk to start the sixth, the pressure was placed on OU pitcher Karlie Keeney.
With a strikeout to end the fifth inning, Monticelli shut down OU’s dugout with a roar, despite facing just four batters when she relieved May in the inning.
Despite Keeney’s out, Gasso went to the bullpen once more and brought in Maxwell with runners on the corners.
Maxwell did not disappoint.
Kinsey Fiedler hit the ball back to Maxwell on her first pitch. Maxwell, a potent defensive pitcher, charged at the ball, drove a pitch to Hansen, and struck out Jing Gardner.
After that, Avery Hodge produced a brilliant play at second base by charging on Carter’s slow-roller to keep the Sooners and Huskies tied at the end of the inning.
After Brito singled with one out in the seventh, Maxwell had to return to the mound in order to keep OU in the game.
But extra innings were not a given.
With one out and runners on first and second for the Huskies due to an error and a walk, Maxwell was unconcerned.
The second Washington batter of the inning was retired with a force out at third, and Maxwell recorded her second strikeout of the evening to advance the game to the eighth inning.
With international rules in effect for the occasion, the eighthinning began with Pickering on second base.
On a sacrifice, she moved to third, giving Boone the opportunity to drive her home with a single.
After the Huskies used their own sacrifice, Maxwell had to deal with Washington’s Jadyn Glab at third base with one out as well. However, the graduate transfer induced a popup and a slow trickling grounder to Brito to end the game.
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