OU Softball Splits Pair Of Games In California

The No. 3 Oklahoma (10-2) softball team split a pair of games on the opening day of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. The Sooners opened the day with their second straight loss via walkoff home run in a 5-4 loss to No. 10 Arizona (10-1), but OU bounced back with a 10-1, five-inning win over San Diego State (7-3) to close out the day.

No. 10 Arizona 5, No. 3 Oklahoma 4

For the second straight game OU was done in by a walkoff home run by a team from the Grand Canyon State. After closing last weekend's Littlewood Classic with an 8-4 loss at Arizona State courtesy of a walkoff grand slam, the Sooners were bested Thursday by No. 10 Arizona, 5-4, on Kellie Fox's solo homer to lead off the bottom of the seventh.

The 1-0 home run by Fox spoiled Oklahoma's four-run rally over the game's final two innings.

Trailing 4-0, Lauren Chamberlain got the Sooners on the board with a solo home run to right field in the sixth. It was her team-best seventh of the season and also the 79th of her career, tying Washington's Kristen Rivera (2002-05) for sixth on the all-time home run list. Chamberlain is now just 11 away from tying the record of 90 home runs set by UCLA's Stacey Nuveman.

Junior Kady Self added a sac fly in the inning to make it 4-2.

In the top of the seventh, Oklahoma was down to its final out but freshman Nicole Pendley hit a two-out, two-run home run to right field to knot the game at 4-4.

No. 3 Oklahoma 10, San Diego State 1 (5 Innings)

Oklahoma used a pair of four-run innings to snap its first two-losing streak since last March and beat San Diego State, 10-1, in five innings.

OU jumped out to 4-0 lead in the top of the first, highlighted by a two-run single by Whitney Ellis.

In the third inning, Jessica Vest hit an RBI double and Lauren Chamberlain added a run-scoring single to make it 6-0 in OU's favor.

The Sooners tacked on four more runs in the fourth as Vest delivered two more runs on a single up the middle, and Callie Parsons' single brought home two additional runs. Vest finished 2-2 with two runs scored and three driven in.

Kelsey Stevens got the complete-game win and moved to 3-0 on the year. She allowed just one run on three hits and struck out four. The Aztecs didn't collect their first hit off Stevens until there was one out in the fourth inning.