Oklahoma Hands No. 3 Texas First Conference Loss

The Sooners dominated the Longhorns for the entirety of the game thanks to ace Keilani Ricketts.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:22 pm

By: News On 6

Oklahoma Hands No. 3 Texas First Conference Loss

Originally Published: Apr 30, 2011 10:39 PM CDT

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

AUSTIN, Texas -- Thanks to the dominant pitching of ace Keilani Ricketts, the Oklahoma Sooners handed the No. 3 Texas a 5-2 loss Saturday, its first loss since the start of conference play.

Ricketts (22-11) pitched 6.2 scoreless innings, her only earned runs coming on a two-on, two-out home run to left field by Taylor Hoagland. The sophomore lefty finished a complete-game outing, giving up four hits and two earned runs, while striking out 10, bringing her season-total to 362 strikeouts, a new single-season record for Oklahoma (34-16, 8-7).

Texas (43-5, 12-1) starter Blaire Luna (25-2) also pitched a complete-game, but came away with her second loss of the season for the outing. The right-handed pitcher gave up eight hits and four earned runs, while striking out eight OU batters.

Oklahoma took its first lead of the game in the top of the first.

In the second at-bat of the inning, Chana’e Jones doubled to left center field to move into scoring position. Two at-bats later, Jessica Shults singled to left center to bring Jones home and take a one-run lead.

Shults drew a walk in the top of the third to load the bases and in the next at-bat Ricketts singled to center field to bring Jones and Destinee Martinez home and extend the Sooners’ advantage to 3-0.

Oklahoma tacked on an unearned run on a throwing error in the top of the fifth and a solo home runs from Katie Norris in the sixth to take a daunting five-run lead.

The two-game weekend series will conclude at 12 p.m. Sunday, before the Sooners come back for a mid-week, non-conference game against North Texas.