OU Softball: May's Friday Pitching Helps Oklahoma Past Sluggish Start

The Sooners' offense failed to hit its stride until the fourth inning while May battled Cleveland State's bats for five frames.

SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY

NORMAN — Possibly Nicole May’s best performance this season steered OKlahoma through a lackluster offensive start in Friday night’s regional first-round game.

Seeking their 14th consecutive regional championship, the Sooners (50-6) defeated Cleveland State 9-0 at Love’s Field behind the senior’s zero walks, three hits and season-high nine strikeouts.

“I think she’s [May] getting better every outing. I really do,” OU head coach Patty Gasso said. “There’s a look on her face that is very determined, and you can see it from the start. It’s very rare that a pitcher throws a no-hitter in postseason, so three hits that didn’t hurt us doesn’t bother us one bit.”

May started the game hot, striking out the first and third batters of Cleveland State’s rotation.

“It felt good coming in. I was just trying to compete like [Gasso] was saying, just feeding balls to my defense, letting them work as well,” May said. “It just felt good and neutral.”

Then, the Sooners failed to record a hit in the bottom of the inning.

By the start of the fourth inning, both the Sooners and Vikings had only two hits apiece, OU leading 1-0 from a second-inning Kasidi Pickering home run.

“She [May] ended up with [nine] strikeouts, but better than that, no walks,” Gasso said, “so you have a performance like that, you keep us working as an offense to help, so I thought she was absolutely outstanding.”

The Sooners were unable to score in the third inning. Alyssa Brito struck out with bases loaded to exit the frame.

“I thought Cleveland State’s pitcher [Melissa Holzopfel] was really good. She was effective," Gasso said. "She was kind of handcuffing some of us, really tough on righties. I kind of look back at Alyssa Brito, although she struck out — she fouled off, fouled off — those are the fighting at-bats we’re looking for.

“I thought Cleveland State made some really good plays. They weren’t afraid of us. No one here is afraid of us,” Gasso said.

The Sooners’ bats warmed as they tacked three runs onto the scoreboard in the fourth inning.

May remained in the zone. She struck out two batters in the fifth inning, her last frame in the circle before she was retired for Karlie Keeney. Oklahoma closed the game on a high note as an Ella Parker double scored Rylie Boone and Avery Hodge.

The next swing, Tiare Jennings hit her 20th home run of the season to score herself and Parker, end the game at 9-0 and enter the NCAA’s top five in career RBIs with 304.

The Sooners continue their chase for a national title four-peat against Oregon at 2 p.m. Saturday.