OU Softball: Baylor Rises Up as Oklahoma Takes First Loss of 2023

The Sooners had won 18 straight regular season games, including plenty of easy ones this year, but ran into a tough Bears squad in Waco.

Baylor got strong pitching and timely hitting, and Oklahoma’s perfect record is no more.

The Sooners fell 4-3 to the Bears on Sunday at the Getterman Classic in Waco — Baylor’s home field — and now, three weeks into February, coach Patty Gasso knows the squad has plenty of work ahead.

Baylor improved to 7-1, while No. 1-ranked Oklahoma fell to 8-1 on the season. The Sooners had won 11 in a row dating back to last year’s College World Series, and had enjoyed 18 consecutive regular-season victories.

A sharp start during last week’s season-opening five-game trip to California and the first three games in Waco didn’t prepare OU for Bears. The Sooners had outscored their last four opponents 50-0, and they hadn’t trailed at the end of an inning in any of their first eight games.

But Baylor plated four runs off Jordy Bahl in the third inning, and that was enough for its first win over the Sooners since 2017.

“I want everyone to understand that the world is not crashing in on us,” OU coach Patty Gasso said. “What just happened is extremely valuable. What’s valuable is the response, the rebound and the extra work that is going to be put in to make us better. Our offense was confused with things and we definitely have to find a way to handle pitchers that mix pitches better.”

OU opened the scoring in the second inning when Alynah Torres smacked a one-out triple to center field and came home on Jayda Coleman’s two-out ground ball that was mishandled by shortstop Amber Toven. Tiare Jennings singled through the left side, but Grace Lyons grounded out to Toven to end the threat with just one run allowed.

The Sooners maintained that lead into the third, when Baylor exploded for a 4-spot off Bahl.

Presleigh Pilon opened with a single, McKenzie Wilson followed with a bunt single that advanced Pilon to third, and Wilson stole second. After Bahl struck out Taylor Strain for the first out, Toven tied it with an RBI single up the middle.

With runners on first and third, Shaylon Govan then took a 1-1 pitch from Bahl over the wall in left field to stake the Bears to a 4-1 lead.

OU tried to respond in the top of the fourth when 9-hole hitter Rylie Boone slapped a one-out single up the middle. But Coleman took a called third strike for the second out, and after Tiare Jennings put two runners on with a single through the left side, Lyons smashed a line drive right at third baseman Aliyah Binford to quash the rally.

Baylor pitcher Dariana Orme (3-1) stayed poised as she handled the dynamic Sooner lineup over four innings, scattering six hits and two walks and giving up just one unearned run.

Orme exited to begin the fifth as Binford, a second-team All-Big 12 performer last year, came in to close and recorded a 1-2-3 fifth.

The Sooners did get to Binford in the sixth, however.

Torres opened the rally with a one-out walk, and Rylie Boone followed with an opposite field single down the third base line. Coleman then took a 2-0 pitch from Binford off the wall in straightaway center for an RBI double brought home pinch-runner Avery Hodge to make it 4-2 and sent Boone to third. Boone then scored on Jennings’ groundout to cut it to 4-3. But Lyons ended the rally again with a ground ball to short.

Binford then worked a perfect seventh inning to pick up the save and lock down the upset.

“We need to feel these games,” Gasso said. “It helps us learn about us and that’s very important. If we think that we’re good enough and we go along and continue to win games, we’re going to lose them at the wrong time and it’s good for us to figure this out early.”

Oklahoma plays next weekend in the annual Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic next weekend, Feb. 24-26, in Cathedral City, CA, where the Sooners face Cal State-Fullerton, Texas A&M, Utah, Loyola Marymount and No. 2 UCLA.