Oklahoma Rallies to Beat Wichita State in the NCAA Softball Tournament

Down 2-1, a six-run fifth inning powered an OU comeback in the Norman Regional.

NORMAN — Patty Gasso guaranteed a battle against Wichita State, and her Sooners got one.

A far cry from the 14-3 run rule Oklahoma handed the Shockers earlier in May, the top-seeded Sooners had to battle from behind twice to win 7-5 at Marita Hynes Field on Saturday afternoon.

Solo home runs from Madison Perrigan and Ryleigh Buck off of Shannon Saile in the first and fourth innings put Wichita State up 2-1, but the Sooners found a little bit of magic in the fifth.

“I think we knew what we were getting into, but we weren't quite ready for it to be honest,” Gasso said in a Zoom press conference after the game. “We came out a little bit slow… We wasted the first three or four innings just trying to create some kind of momentum.”

But in the bottom of the fifth inning, OU found a spark.

Friday’s hero, Nicole Mendes, drew a one-out walk to start the OU rally.

In the next at-bat, freshman Tiare Jennings brought Mendes all the way home with an RBI double. Jocelyn Alo got in on the fun with an RBI double herself, before Kinzie Hansen’s RBI single suddenly gave the Sooners a 4-2 lead.

Gasso said her team’s timely response is a hallmark of great teams across any sport.

“Big time teams know how to respond when it's the toughest,” Gasso said.

The back-to-back-to-back RBI base hits finally gave the home crowd something to cheer for.

“There was a lot of back and forth. I can't imagine what it was like watching it on television. It just seemed like there was a lot of noise,” Gasso said of the atmosphere. “But it did absolutely boost us. When we came out to the fans and they stood up and stepped up for us, the momentum switched.”

With the fans on their feet urging for more, Lynnsie Elam delivered.

Pouncing on a 3-0 count, Elam smoked her second home run of the afternoon, giving the Sooners a 7-2 lead.

Gasso said she had so much trust in her captain that she didn’t even make eye contact with her ahead of the 3-0 delivery.

“A lot of times I'll tell a player “let's just take.” I didn't even look at her. Not that I was expecting her swing either” Gasso said with a smile. “But she's a smart hitter. She's a really smart hitter.”

Elam said getting no signal either way from Gasso was all license she needed to uncork another towering homer.

Lynnsie Elam led the way for the Sooners against Wichita State, driving in four RBIs off of her two home runs :: Ryan Chapman / AllSooners.com

“I looked over coach and I saw her head was down and I was like "Alright, I can swing if I want!" But nothing changed in that approach,” Elam said. “I was ready to take the walk if I need to. But I also wasn't going to let a good pitch go.”

The Sooners finally found the momentum they had been chasing all afternoon, but in the face of a hostile crowd, the Shockers never wilted.

In the top of the sixth inning, Buck returned to tormented the Sooners again. The Wichita State third baseman hit her second home run of the game, this time a three-run bomb off of Giselle Juarez, and pulled the Shockers back within two.

As the game was hanging in the balance, Gasso again turned to her talented freshman Nicole May in the circle to close the game out for the Sooners.

May rewarded Gasso’s confidence, retiring four of the six batters she faced to record the save.

“She is really growing up fast,” Gasso said of May. “She had to face the meat of their lineup, and that was kind of gut wrenching for all of us not knowing what can happen. But she did just a great job of keeping the ball in the park.

“If you keep the ball in the park, we're gonna make plays. And that's all we ask.”

Elam’s two home run, four RBI day continues to show the depth of the Sooner lineup. While Alo, Jennings and Hansen lead the team in home runs, Oklahoma got seven RBIs out of their 9-hole hitter in Mendes on Friday, and then Saturday’s explosion from Elam hitting out of the sixth spot.

Surviving the slow start, Oklahoma is now firmly in control of the regional.

Whichever team emerges from the losers bracket between Wichita State, Texas A&M and Morgan State will have to beat the Sooners twice on Sunday to punch their ticket to the Super Regional.

The survivor faces Oklahoma at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Marita Hynes Field to try and keep their season alive.