OU Softball: Oklahoma Finishes Strong in Season-Opening Trip

The No. 1-ranked Sooners run-ruled San Jose State Sunday to close out the Mark Campbell Invitational with authority.

And that’s how the No. 1-ranked team in the nation and two-time defending national champ wants to start a season.

Oklahoma run-ruled San Jose State on Sunday 9-0 in the final game of the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, CA.

It was the Sooners’ second run-rule of the event. The first four games were wins over ranked teams or teams receiving votes in the polls, and three of the four games were close. The Spartans provided little resistance, however, as OU improved to 5-0 on the opening weekend.

OU blasted two home runs, and freshman Kierston Deal threw four inning of one-hit ball to pick up her collegiate win. Transfer Alex Storako pitched the fifth inning to close out the run rule.

The Sooners established their dominance in the first when Deal recorded the first two strikeouts of her OU career in the top of the inning, and OU’s offense pushed across three runs in the bottom.

Jayda Coleman led off with a bunt single and Tiare Jennings singled up the middle, and both runners advanced a base on the throw. Haley Lee then brought both runners home with line drive smash through the right side, and Grace Lyons brought Lee home with a triple to the gap in right center field.

The Sooners extended it to 4-0 in the second inning when Sophia Nugent slid home under the tag on Jennings’ bases-loaded ground ball up the middle.

Patty Gasso then had Grace Green pinch-hit for Lee, and Green blasted a grand slam to right field for an 8-0 lead.

In the third inning, OU seized another run when freshman Jocelyn Erickson hammered her first career home run over the wall in right field for a 9-0 advantage.

Meanwhile, Deal kept dealing in the circle.

She struck out two in the first, one in the second, one in the third and one in the fourth.

Deal gave up a leadoff walk to start the game, then retired seven in a row before yielding a single and a walk in the third inning. She ended that threat, however, by inducing a fly ball and a pop fly.

Storako got two out to start the fifth, including a swinging strikeout, before catcher Reina Zermeno slapped her second hit — San Jose State’s only two hits on the day.

Storako allowed two baserunners before Hannah Coor finished it off with an acrobatic catch on the warning track in right center field.

The Sooners next take the field next weekend with a four-game event in Waco, TX, beginning Friday at 12:30 p.m. against Longwood.