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OU Softball: Oklahoma Wins 60th In a Row With Romp of Lamar

Kierston Deal was overpowering in the circle and the Sooners got just enough early offense to cruise to another easy victory in Louisiana.

John E. Hoover

OU Softball: Oklahoma Wins 60th In a Row With Romp of Lamar
OU Softball: Oklahoma Wins 60th In a Row With Romp of Lamar /

All Kierston Deal needed was just a little run support — and she got that in the first and second innings.

On a cool, brisk Saturday in Lake Charles, LA, the Oklahoma left hander was strong in the circle and picked up her first win of the season with a 8-0 run-rule victory over Lamar at the McNeese State Cowgirl Challenge.

Deal, a sophomore from North Carolina, had perhaps her best game in a Sooner uniform, striking out eight of the first 14 batters she faced and only allowing two walks with no hits across her first four complete innings.

The Cardinals finally got a single off Deal to start the fifth inning. Nothing came of the baserunner, however, as Deal recorded two more strikeouts — her ninth and 10th of the day.

With the win, No. 1-ranked Oklahoma (7-0) extended its NCAA-record winning streak to 60 games. Lamar fell to 2-4 on the season.

Perhaps chilled by the blustery conditions, the OU bats were mostly quiet on the day — outside of an early power surge and a late rally.

Kinzie Hansen’s two-out solo homer in the bottom of the first put the Sooners up 1-0, and Tiare Jennings’ leadoff blast to left field — into the wind — made it 2-0. It was Jennings’ third home run of the season and the 76th home run and the 250th RBI of her career.

OU loaded the bases with two out behind Jennings’ homer, and Alyssa Brito drew a walk on four straight pitches to make it 3-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Rylie Boone, batting leadoff, rode a high pitch into center field for a two-run single that scored Kasidi Pickering and Maya Bland and put Oklahoma up 5-0.

In the fifth, with Jennings at first base on a fielder’s choice, Jayda Coleman laid down an infield single to bring up Pickering, who loaded the bases with a patient, two-strike, opposite-field flare single.

Alynah Torres drove in Jennings with a groundout to make it 6-0, and Riley Ludlam’s two-run single to left scored Coleman and Pickering to end it.

Ludlam and Boone led the Sooners with two RBIs, and Coleman and Pickering each had two of OU’s eight hits. Pickering, batting seventh, also scored three runs.

Deal was the star of the game, throwing 94 pitches and 56 strikes in five innings. Batters were 0-for-9 against her with baserunners and 0-for-5 with two out. She finished with 10 strikeouts while allowing just two walks and one hit.

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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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