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OU Softball: Oklahoma Blasts Past Duke in WCWS Opener

The Sooners launched three two-run bombs to power past Duke and set up a date with UCLA.

Ryan Chapman

BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s seniors ensured the Sooners got off to a hot start at the Women’s College World Series. 

A pair of two run bombs from Kinzie Hansen and Alynah Torres in the third inning sparked OU to erase an early deficit and early nerves from Kelly Maxwell. 

The Sooner starter allowed a home run in the second inning, but Oklahoma rallied to beat Duke 9-1 at Devon Park, formerly USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, in six innings.

Rain blanketed Oklahoma City before the day’s first game got rolling, delaying the rematch between the 2-seeded Sooners (55-6) and the 10-seeded Blue Devils (53-7) by 96 minutes. 

"What a great game for the Sooners. It's really something important to try to get that first win," OU coach Patty Gasso said. "We really prepared for Duke because they're a really good team.

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"We knew we were going to get a feisty team with a very good pitching staff and just an array of good hitters, bunters, speed. They kind of embrace it all."

Once UCLA knocked off Alabama, the game got rolling and Duke wrestled control early. 

Duke’s Francesca Frelick got ahead of Maxwell’s 3-1 delivery, lining the ball over the 200-foot mark on the left field wall to put Duke on top 1-0 in the second.

Maxwell initially didn’t settle down after allowing the homer. She issued a pair of walks, and both pitching coach Jennifer Rocha and Hansen made separate trips to the circle to help calm down the veteran left hander. 

She got out of the inning allowing just the single run, and her offense almost immediately responded. 

Kasidi Pickering’s one-out single moved Alyssa Brito over to third, but Patty Gasso elected to show the stop sign instead of sending Brito home after Duke center fielder D’Auna Jennings played the ball nicely off the outfield wall. 

Brito may have been better off testing Jennings’ arm, as she fell victim to a fielder’s choice that helped Duke sophomore Cassidy Curd strand a pair and escape the frame unscathed. 

Maxwell found her rhythm in the top of the third, then Jayda Coleman’s leadoff single signaled the end of Curd’s day. 

Duke coach Marissa Young, wary that OU’s success against Curd in February came the second trip through the batting order, pulled the left-hander in favor of All-American Jala Wright. 

Twenty-three pitches later, the Blue Devils had completely ceded momentum. 

Hansen struck first, hammering the first pitch she saw into the left field bleachers for her sixth career home run at the WCWS, and then Torres converted Brito’s walk into a two-run shot with a line drive of her own. 

"We knew exactly what their game plan would be against us," Hansen said. "We've been going on grind mode this past week. I know it was pretty grueling at times. In the beginning of the week, we weren't hitting that (pitching) machine very well. At the end of the week it paid off.

"... Curd was throwing gas up in the zone, and then Jala was throwing gas down in the zone. We had to be quick with our adjustments, and I think our hard work definitely paid off."

The preparation for the opposing pitching staff is spearheaded by OU's hitting coach, JT Gasso.

"He has everything in lockdown," Patty Gasso said. "He shows, they learn, they get up, they do movements with him to really understand what we could be seeing and who might start, who might be next, and why.

"It's like being in a classroom setting. They're listening. They're very educated. They had notebooks. They're writing notes down. They're talking it over with each other. It's very astute, very diving in and trying to understand what could happen, then practicing it as much as we can."

Oklahoma couldn’t immediately shift its focus to a matchup with UCLA, however. 

Maxwell walked a pair and hit a Duke batter to load the bases with two outs in the fourth, prompting Gasso to turn to sophomore Kierston Deal. 

Deal got ahead in the count, but it was Coleman who stole the show. 

Gisele Tapia hit the ball to shallow-center field, a swing that would have earned a pair of runs against most other center fielders. But Coleman read the ball perfectly off the bat and dove to make the play, ending the threat and bringing the Devon Park crowd to its feet. 

"It's game-winning, game-changing one way or the other," Gasso said of Coleman's always-stellar defense. "If she doesn't make the play, a rally is created. If she does make the play, momentum comes in our dugout.

"... She's incredible. She's an incredible athlete. I don't know how many runs she has saved. ... What she's been doing, she loves these big moments. She's her best in these situations, in this venue, in this World Series. It's her favorite thing to do. We're going to rally behind her and let her lead us."

Rylie Boone kept the momentum rolling by sneaking down a bunt and beating out the throw for a single, and first baseman Cydney Sanders put an emphatic stop to her slump by blasting a two-run homer of her own to put Oklahoma up 6-1. 

Hansen added another RBI with a single, putting a pair aboard with one out, but Brito and Torres couldn’t convert to push the lead any further than 7-1 in the fourth. 

Oklahoma returned in the sixth with a chance to end the game again. Coleman and Jennings both reached with no outs, putting a pair of runners in scoring position with the Sooners searching for two runs to run-rule the Blue Devils.

Brito delivered, firing the Sooners onto the right side of the bracket.

The Sooners now get to enjoy a day off, as they don’t have to return to Devon Park until Saturday when OU will take on UCLA at 2 p.m., and the winner’s bracket contest will be broadcast on ABC.

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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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