Softball Live Blog: No. 1 Oklahoma Takes on No. 11 Duke at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge

The No. 1-ranked Sooners meet No. 11 Duke in the second game of the season for Oklahoma at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge.

Ryan Chapman offers his real-time observations as the No. 1-ranked Sooners take on No. 11 Duke in OU's second game of the day from the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in Mexico. Just keep the browser open and refresh for Chapman's updates throughout the game. 

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3:19 p.m.

Great stuff from Keeney. She induced a ground ball to end the game and clinch OU's 55th-straight victory. The machine is rolling again. 

3:15 p.m.

Impressive response. Keeney loaded the bases, then fired back by quickly getting up in the count 0-2. 

After a pair of foul balls, Keeney got the strikeout. OU one out away. 

3:12 p.m.

Any drama left in this one?

Keeney allows a one-out walk and then Duke gets another aboard with a single. 

Big moment for the Liberty transfer. 

3:06 p.m.

Well, Patty Gasso said she was going to be aggressive with her team's speed on the base paths.

It got the best of the Sooners there. Parker gets gunned trying to swipe a bag off Hansen’s popup.

OU takes the 3-0 lead to the top of the seventh. 

3:03 p.m.

Impressive first day for Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering.

Sooners needed to rebuild depth off the bench after losing Sophia Nugent and Jocelyn Erickson to the transfer portal, and both true freshmen are off to a great start. 

2:54 p.m.

We’ve had two bizarre stoppages today.

First, an umbrella blew across the outfield.

And now… and iguana (???) raced across the field.

Umpire used a softball to roll behind it and chase it off the field. Weird times. 

2:50 p.m.

Patty Gasso loves to keep offenses off balance with her pitching matchups.

Last year, she didn’t lean heavily on left-hander Kierston Deal until late.

Already today you’ve seen Deal take over for right-hander Nicole May, and now Keeney (a righty) replaced Maxwell.

Matchups consistency shifting on Utah Valley and Duke mid-game. 

2:44 p.m.

Tough break for the Sooners. OU doesn’t get the close call on Rylie Boone at first base.

Had she been called safe, she would have plated another run in pinch runner Avery Hodge.

Instead, Gasso will send Karlie Keeney into the fray with the three-run advantage still intact.

Only reason that happened is because Kasidi Pickering continued her stellar first day as a Sooner. She’s 2-for-2 against Duke with the RBI. 

2:32 p.m.

Don’t look now… but Kelly Maxwell has now retired 11 straight batters. Closes the top of the fifth with a nice strikeout. She’s settled in and is absolutely cruising. Wonder if she just had a few nerves in the first two innings. 

2:23 p.m.

Walker looked to be a big change of pace from Curd, mixing plenty of changeups in, and Kinzie Hansen ends up knifing one into foul territory to end the inning. 

Maxwell still rocking. Curious to see how long Gasso sticks with her, or moves to a pitcher we haven't seen yet today to close out the contest in the sixth or seventh inning. 

2:21 p.m.

Tiare Jennings back on the bases.

She singles with a pair of outs as the Sooners try and build on their lead in the fourth inning. 

2:09 p.m.

Oklahoma’s youngsters continue to deliver on Day 1 of the 2024 season.

Freshman Kasidi Pickering, who hit a grand slam in her first OU at-bat, singled to third to scratch Brito across and put the Sooners up 3-0.

She then smartly took second as Duke chased Torres back to third base.

Rylie Boone grounded out, but the damage is done.

2:05 p.m.

Curd’s 78th pitch results in another run for the Sooners.

Torres battled deep into the count, as every OU batter has here in the third inning, and the fifth-year senior roped one into the outfield.

Bland, the speedy true freshman, gets all the way home to double the lead. Leaves runners on the corners as Lillie Walker now takes over in the circle for Curd. 

2:02 p.m.

We have our first Maya Bland sighting of the season!

The true freshman is in to pinch-run for Cydney Sanders.

Alynah Torres pinch-hitting for Avery Hodge with two outs in the bottom of the third. Can tell Patty Gasso knows doubling OU’s lead here with Curd in some danger would be huge. 

1:56 p.m.

Tiare Jennings. Unreal. It looked like she barely got a piece of the ball, and she pushed it deep to straightaway center field and past the outstretched glove of Duke’s D’Auna Jennings.

Sooners stacking a pair of long at-bats here in the bottom of the third inning as Ella Parker made Curd throw deep into a count to retire her before Jennings stepped in.

OU on top 1-0 with Kinzie Hansen stepping in, just one out. 

1:48 p.m.

Kelly Maxwell now looking locked in.

She got up in the count on all three batters in the top of the third, and it let her attack.

Got some nice plays on the corners as well, especially from Alyssa Brito on the second out of the inning.

Parker, Jennings and Hansen due up. Second time through the lineup, interested to see if the Sooners can lock in on Curd. Had four baserunners but still no hits. 

1:42 p.m.

Much better work from Curd there in the second inning. Looked good up and down the zone and only surrendered a single walk to Rylie Boone.

Donuts on the board headed to the third inning. 

1:32 p.m.

Something Kelly Maxwell simply didn’t have at Oklahoma State: an elite defense.

She hit Duke catcher Kelly Torres to leadoff the second inning, which was her second hit batter of the young game.

But Kinzie Hansen, last year’s Johnny Bench Award winner for best catcher in softball, erased the mistake.

She picked off Torres trying to steal third.

Then Tiare Jennings backhanded a ball at short and fired the third out of the inning over to Cydney Sanders at first.

Even without superstar shortstop Grace Lyons, the Sooners’ defense is still making plays.

Avery Hodge, Hannah Coor and Rylie Boone due up for OU. If any of those can get on, Patty Gasso will have tons of speed on the base paths to test Duke’s defense. 

1:23 p.m.

Brito made great contact, but ultimately flied out to left field.

Curd was excellent last year, posting a 1.65 ERA and holding opponents to a .146 batting average while allowing just 13 home runs.

Just one inning, but she wasn’t really able to find the bottom of the strike zone. Will have to hone in and hit her spots there to prevent OU’s lineup from sitting in on everything coming in high.

Kelly Maxwell’s second outing coming up here. 

1:22 p.m.

Curd is attacking the Oklahoma lineup up in the zone early.

Helped her strike out Jennings, but it almost was costly against Hansen. Couldn’t corral one of her pitches, allowing Coleman and Parker to advance a base.

Kinzie Hansen popped out, but Curd dinged Cydney Sanders to load the bases.

Alyssa Brito now in. Can Oklahoma rack back-to-back first inning grand slams?

1:16 p.m.

Fantastic plate discipline from the true freshman, Ella Parker.

She draws a walk off Duke’s Cassidy Curd. Runners at first and second with no outs and the OU shortstop (very weird to type) Tiare Jennings is stepping in. 

1:07 p.m.

Duke gets a pair of baserunners with a leadoff single and then a one-out hit batter.

Kelly Maxwell settled in, though.

The new Sooner battled back to keep Duke off the board with a fly out to center field and then a two-out strikeout.

Looking elsewhere across the lineup, everything stayed the same from game one except for the outfield. Hannah Coor in the starting lineup for Kasidi Pickering, and Coor slid into left field and shifted Rylie Boone over to right field. 

1:01 p.m.

And that's why those are labeled as unofficial lineups! Kelly Maxwell indeed gets the start. Let's roll. 

12:57 p.m.

Sounds like things are getting close to getting going back down in Mexico. There's an unofficial lineup on the stats feed that is well... odd. 

We'll see if it's indeed what Patty Gasso will roll with against No. 11 Duke! 

Unofficial starting lineups / OU Stats

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