All Sooners

OU Softball: Oklahoma Continues Battle Series Showcase With the Long Ball

Patty Gasso split the squad into three teams, and the home runs flowed freely as the Sooners' staged another fall ball scrimmage.

John E. Hoover

In this story:

Cydney Sanders came to Oklahoma to mash home runs. Big ones.

Sanders, a transfer from Arizona State, hit two tape-measure home runs on Wednesday night, her third and fourth of the fall scrimmage season, and the Sooners pounded eight solo home runs to entertain a chilled crowd at Marita Hynes Field.

Sanders, a sophomore who ranked 12th in the nation last season by hitting 21 home runs for the Sun Devils, showed she may be capable of stepping in and taking on the impossible task of partially filling the cleats of home run queen Jocelyn Alo.

Sanders batted .425 last season with 62 hits, 53 runs and 63 RBIs to go with a slugging percentage of 1.192. She was named first-team All-American, Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and was runner-up to new teammate Jordy Bahl for NFCA National Freshman of the Year.

In addition to her two homers, Sanders also delivered a fourth-inning single.

“I think every coach in the country was picking up their phone when they saw Cydney’s name in the portal,” coach Patty Gasso said when Sanders announced her transfer to OU. “She was a perfect fit for our needs with some of the power we lost from our outgoing senior class.”

Using a complex series of accumulated points this fall — team wins, individual hits, home runs, etc. — Sanders came into Wednesday narrowly ahead of Bahl for the lead in the fall MVP race.

Tiare Jennings also hit two home runs in the Sooners’ third intrasquad scrimmage of the fall.

Gasso and her staff divided the roster into three teams, rather than two — and named them after OU royalty: Team Alo, Team Chamberlain and Team Ricketts.

Team Ricketts scored five runs to win the scrimmmage, while Team Alo and Team Ricketts each scored four.

Bahl played for both Alo and Chamberlain, although she didn’t pitch.

Bahl started the scoring with a triple and then came home to give Team Alo a one-run lead.

Team Ricketts then smashed three home runs off Michigan transfer Alex Storako in the first inning. Sanders, catcher Kinzie Hansen and right fielder Grace Green each delivered solo homers off Storako to put Team Rickets on top.

Jennings then hit a titanic solo homer off Nicole May for Team Alo’s second run of the night.

In the third inning, Sanders gave Team Ricketts their fourth run with a solo shot off SJ Geurin over the batter’s eye in center field.

Quincee Lilio pounded a long solo shot off May in the fourth inning to give Team Ricketts its fifth run.

Jennings led off the fifth by blasting her second home run of the night off Storako for Team Alo’s third run of the night. Jocelyn Erickson followed that shot with one of her own on the very the next pitch for Team Alo’s fourth run.

Team Chamberlain went into the final inning scoreless, but nearly rallied. Bahl hit a fifth-inning single while batting for Team Chamberlain to start the late rally.

Rylie Boone then delivered a two-out, RBI single to put Team Chamberlain on the board. Haley Lee added to the rally with a two-run single off Geurin that gave Team Chamberlain its second and third runs. Boone tagged up on Avery Hodge’s sacrifice fly to left for Team Chamberlain’s fourth run. Bahl’s line drive was caught on the warning track in left field to end the threat.

Team Alo featured Bahl, Jennings, Erickson, Sophia Nugent and Jayda Coleman.

Team Chamberlain consisted of Alyssa Brito, Hodge, Lee, Boone and Bahl.

Team Ricketts showcased Sanders, Hansen, Green, Lilio and Alynah Torres.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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