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OU Softball: Kelly Maxwell Dazzles to Fire Oklahoma Past Oregon

After allowing a home run in the first inning, Kelly Maxwell closed her dominant day by retiring the final 16 batters she faced.

Ryan Chapman

SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY

NORMAN — For the second straight year, Kelly Maxwell completely shut down Oregon. 

After facing off against the Ducks in last year’s Super Regionals with Oklahoma State, the left-handed ace again tormented the Pac 12 outfit. 

Maxwell surrendered a first inning home run, but she only allowed one other baserunner throughout the rest of her six inning outing. 

The graduate transfer retired the final 15 batters she faced, striking out eight batters in the process.

Oklahoma’s offense fed off the dominance in the circle, overpowering the Ducks 6-3 at Love’s Field on Sunday. 

"I just thought Kelly was superb," OU coach Patty Gasso said after the win. "I thought she got better as the game went on. But to hold those guys down to a couple of hits, eight strikeouts. That’s big time for us."

Final Box Score
Final Box Score / OU Stats

The 2-seeded Sooners (51-6) advanced to tomorrow’s Regional Final with the win where either Oregon (29-20), Boston University of Cleveland State will have to beat them twice. 

Melyssa Lombardi’s Ducks will have to stave off elimination Saturday evening following the afternoon battle between Boston and Cleveland State. 

Maxwell’s eight strikeouts fell two short of her season-high, where she fanned 10 Texas batters in OU’s victory over the top-seeded Longhorns in Austin in April. 

To pull the upset in Norman, Oregon knew it would need to start fast. 

Though Maxwell struck out Kai Luschar to start the game, Ducks center fielder Ariel Carlson got her team on top. She hammered Maxwell’s delivery into the left field bleachers to take a 1-0 advantage. 

Oklahoma’s offense had Maxwell’s back, however. 

Tiare Jennings’ double put a pair of runners in scoring position for the Sooners in the bottom of the first for freshman Kasidi Pickering, who homered twice in OU’s NCAA Tournament opener yesterday against Cleveland State. 

Pickering didn’t push a third home run of the weekend out of Love’s Field, but she did battle through an 12-pitch at-bat to bring Jayda Coleman home with a sacrifice fly. 

Third baseman Alyssa Brito kept the momentum rolling with an RBI-single, putting the hosts in front 2-1.

Maxwell then settled in. 

She hit Oregon first baseman Alyssa Daniell in the second inning, but that was the lone baserunner Maxwell allowed after the home run. 

"I know my team always has my back, so I wasn’t too worried when that happened in the first inning," Maxwell said. "I knew that I was getting behind in counts. I wanted to flip that and get ahead.

"From the middle of the game until the end, is kind of where I was getting into that groove."

The Sooners had a great chance to extend their lead in the fourth inning. 

Cydney Sanders’ walk put runners on first and second with two outs for Rylie Boone, and the OU outfielder just tried to sneak the ball through the infield. 

Oregon shortstop Paige Sinicki dove to her left and snagged the ball right above the dirt, ending the inning and saving a run with OU catcher Kinzie Hansen in motion from second base looking to head home. 

Maxwell struck out the side in the fifth to continue rolling, giving the Sooner bats more time to dial in on Sokolsky. 

And time was all they needed. 

Gasso and the coaching staff issued a challenge to the team, and Oklahoma responded in emphatically.

Jennings obliterated a Sokolsky pitch into the second level of the left field stands, a thunderous two-run shot to extend OU’s lead to 4-1.

"Just (the coaches) telling us to make adjustments," Jennings said of the meeting before the bottom of the fifth. "I think right away we did that. Going through the same thing inning after inning but finally making some adjustments, and it worked out. Definitely them calling us out, and we answered it really well. It happened to work out."

The bomb was Jennings’ 94th-career long shot, putting the Sooner slugger one shy of Lauren Chamberlain’s mark.

In the sixth inning, freshman Ella Parker belted a two-run shot of her own to push the advantage to 6-1 headed into the final inning.

Karlie Keeney was called upon to replace Maxwell in the seventh inning to try and close out the win.

Emma Kauf hit a home run off Keeney to cut the deficit down to 6-2, and Vallery Wong’s doubled was turned into another run to provide a bit of late drama.

Maxwell was then brought back into the game to close out the win, something she said didn't bother her at all because she never mentally checked out of the contest.

"Coach always talks about staying locked in, no matter the circumstance," Maxwell said. "I knew I had Karlie’s back in that situation."

Coleman ended the day 2-for-3 at the plate, and both Parker and Jennings hit 2-for-4.

The Sooners now sit idle until Sunday while the rest of the Norman Regional bracket works itself out. 

Oklahoma will take the field again on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Love’s Field. 

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is deputy editor at AllSooners and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK. 

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