Sooners' Offense Comes Alive in Blowout of North Texas

OU came into the day having lost five of its last seven games, but the runs flowed early and often.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:23 pm

By: News On 6

Sooners' Offense Comes Alive in Blowout of North Texas

Originally Published: May 5, 2011 9:46 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

NORMAN, Okla. – The Oklahoma softball team’s offense was on fire Thursday in a 9-1 blowout of North Texas in only five innings.

The Sooners jumped on the board in the bottom of the first with a three-run home run by Keilani Ricketts, and they just continued rolling from there.

They scored four more runs in the next frame thanks to two RBIs each from Chana’e Jones and Brittany Williams to give them a 7-0 lead after only two innings.

North Texas managed to get on the board in the fourth thanks to a leadoff homer by Mariza Martinez, but Oklahoma immediately answered with two more runs in the bottom of the inning to end the scoring.

In addition to her home run, Ricketts also had a strong pitching performance. She only allowed one base runner in three innings and did not give up a hit. Michelle Gascoigne entered after that and surrendered North Texas’ only two hits of the game.

OU was coming off a rough stretch in which it lost five of its previous seven games and dropped into sixth in the Big 12. The Sooners had scored more than three runs only once during their seven-game slump, but now have some momentum going into their final series of the regular season.

They will remain in Norman for their final two games against Iowa State, the first of which will be at 2 p.m. Saturday.