Softball Live Blog: No. 1 Oklahoma Closes the Weekend in Puerto Vallarta vs. Long Beach State

After last night's late comeback against No. 7 Washington, the top-ranked Sooners look to complete a perfect weekend at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge on Saturday.

Ryan Chapman offers his real-time observations as the No. 1-ranked Sooners finish the weekend at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in Mexico against Long Beach State. Just keep the browser open and refresh for Chapman's updates throughout the game. 

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3:05 p.m.

Easy finish for Paytn Monticelli in the seventh. Only allowed one baserunner to close out the 11-3 victory for OU. 

2:54 p.m.

Boone flies out, but the Sooners take an 11-3 run to the bottom of the seventh. 

2:52 p.m.

Really nice close to the weekend for Kinzie Hansen. She brings Brito home with an RBI-single.

Then Parker puts runners on the corners with two outs. 

2:45 p.m.

Nice day for Brito. She gets aboard for the third time today, but benefited from an overthrow there.

She’s standing on second for Hannah Coor.

2:40 p.m.

Oklahoma is three outs away.

But first, the Sooners bats have one more trip through.

Things winding down in Mexico. 

2:31 p.m.

Ludlam walked and Coleman brought another run home despite hitting into a double play.

Sooners up 8-3, Parker is on third for Jennings with two outs. 

And... Tiare Jennings goes yard to the deepest part of the park. The two-run shot extends the lead to 10-3. Officially a six-run sixth inning. 

2:24 p.m.

Ever patient, Parker drew a walk of her own.

Sooners now on top 6-3, and Riley Ludlam is now the pinch hitter. Still no outs. 

2:22 p.m.

Now this is more like it.

Kinzie Hansen draws a walk to load up the bases with no outs.

It appears Gasso will go with a pinch hitter, sending true freshman Ella Parker up to bat. 

2:17 p.m.

Absolutely no doubt about this one.

Alyssa Brito smashes one clear past the wall for her second home run of the day.

 No hesitation, just straight into her home run trot as she extends OU’s lead to 5-3.

2:14 p.m.

Another three up, three down inning for Karlie Keeney. She’s rolling and this game is zipping by.

Headed to the sixth, Brito-Sanders-Hodge due up. 

2:09 p.m.

Another quiet inning from OU’s bats. Nothing going for Coleman, Jennings or Pickering.

Oklahoma only has five hits today. A couple of bad frames. 

2:05 p.m.

Heck of a battle to close out the fourth inning there. Karlie Keeney won though, continuing to fire in after having three balls fouled off.

She’s been nails today. Struck out two of the seven batters she’s faced, allowing no runners. 

1:50 p.m.

Cydney Sanders leads the world in hitting home runs off the center fielder’s glove and over the wall.

She did it last year when the Sooners faced off against Kentucky, and now she’s done it again in Mexico.

Oklahoma back on top 4-3.

1:46 p.m.

Alyssa Brito’s arm is unreal.

She bobbled the ball, which should have been enough time to reach base on any other third baseman, but still Brito recovered and fired over to first fast enough to get the out.

And that’s why Patty Gasso didn’t want to move her over to shortstop. 

Sanders-Torres-Hansen due up for OU in the fourth. 

1:43 p.m.

Sooners go down in order. Not a ton working there for Oklahoma. 

1:38 p.m.

Keeney gets the out.

More importantly, the tape on Kinzie Hansen’s chest protector behind the plate continues to get weirder and weirder.

Not just blue, as Karlie Keeney and Paytn Monticelli pitch with red tape.

This time, the tape is basically affixed in a horizontal line across Hansen’s chest just under her shoulders.

I don’t even know where to start on all that haha. 

1:34 p.m.

Tie ballgame!

Jacquelyn Bickar singles through the left side to plate Magadan, who moved over to third on a ball in the dirt.

Now a pitching change for the Sooners.

Gasso is bringing Karlie Keeney into the fray here with two outs in the bottom of the second. Tough go of it for Deal, who just looked like she was missing her spots. Chris Plank has referenced a couple of times how muggy it is in Puerto Vallarta. Wonder if she was having trouble gripping the softball. Who knows.

1:31 p.m.

Great swing by Savannah Magadan. She poked it to the left field corner, scoring a pair on a double. Cuts OU’s lead to 3-2 with two outs in the bottom of the second.

Patty Gasso and Jennifer Rocha out to talk to Deal and settle her down. 

1:28 p.m.

A pair of baserunners allowed for Kierston Deal.

First and second with one out, good stress for the sophomore early in the year.

1:22 p.m.

Coleman sends one deep but it stays in the park to end the top of the second. OU appears to be dialed in. One or two of these start finding grass and the scoreboard will be lighting up in a hurry. 

1:20 p.m.

Now of course this is only a four game sample, but the Rylie Boone bunt single somehow seems more effective early in 2024.

And then she darts over to second on a stolen base. She’s a menace to any defense. 

1:15 p.m.

Easy frame for Deal.

Wondered if she would have any kind of issues working with the stricter pitching clock, but haven’t seen any indications of that throughout the first weekend.

Deal was very methodical last year for the Sooners. Never rushed, but can’t deny the results. 

1:05 p.m.

Alynah Torres flies out, but OU gets the fast start thanks to Brito.

Sophomore left-hander Kierston Deal about to take control in the bottom of the first. 

(Also, found the sunflower seeds. Now we're ready to roll!)

1:00 p.m.

That was one of the weirder Alyssa Brito home runs you’ll ever see.

Looked like a little popup, causing Tiare Jennings and Kasidi Pickering to wait on the bases.

Brito almost ran past Pickering as she jogged it out, and the ball kept carrying to sneak over the wall.

Either way, 3-0 Sooners and a perfect start to their final contest here in Mexico. 

12:58 p.m.

Happy I wasn’t the only one caught off guard by that. I was just listening to Patty Gasso talk with Chris Plank on the OU pregame show, trying to find where I left my bag of sunflower seeds from last night and Plank sprung us all into action haha. Gotta get these games in!

12:56 p.m.

We have a surprise early start!!!!

I doubt Oklahoma will be too bothered. Sooners the away team once again today. 

12:47 p.m.

We have unofficial lineups in the stats feed. 

It appears Kierston Deal will get the start in the circle. Alynah Torres at second base, Kasidi Pickering in right field and Quincee Lilio gets the designated player slot. 

Projected starting lineup / OU Stats

12:40 p.m.

Checking in on Long Beach State. Just the one game of the weekend so far, a 7-2 loss to Nebraskas yesterday afternoon.

No Jordy Bahl obviously in that one after she left Nebraska’s Thursday battle with Washington after suffering what appeared to be an ankle injury.

12:30 p.m.

Still a little bit away from a lineup, but getting things settled in. Long Beach State made the NCAA Tournament last year after winning the Big West, but the season came to an end in Stanford's Regional. Oddly, Duke was also eliminated by Stanford last year. Shouldn't be any overlooking of Long Beach State by the team, considering it is Patty Gasso's alma mater. 

Next update will fire in as soon as we see any lineup news.