Sooners Hold Off Comeback to Beat Texas Tech

OU led 7-1 going into the final inning, but almost let the lead slip away.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:18 pm

By: News On 6

Sooners Hold Off Comeback to Beat Texas Tech

Originally Published: Apr 2, 2011 2:32 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Oklahoma softball team narrowly avoided a late collapse Saturday, but escaped with a 7-6 win over Texas Tech.

The Sooners (29-10, 2-2) carried a 7-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, but had a disastrous final frame. OU committed two errors in the span of four batters to start the inning, which allowed one unearned run to score and put two runners on base with only one out.

Mikey Kenney took advantage with a two-run double, suddenly cutting the Sooners’ seemingly commanding lead to just three. Kenney then scored on a single by Cydney Allen to cut the score to 7-5.

Sandy James brought the Red Raiders (36-4, 2-2) back to within one with an RBI double later in the inning, and also put the tying run in scoring position. But OU pitcher Keilani Ricketts stepped up and struck out Raven Richardson on three pitches to end the threat and secure the win.

Ricketts pitched a complete game, giving up eight hits and striking out eight. Only three of the runs she allowed were earned, while the other three unearned runs all came in the seventh inning.

The Sooners immediately jumped on Tech starter Brittany Talley to build a huge early lead. Talley managed to retire the first batter she faced, but it was all downhill from there.

Haley Nix blasted a three-run home run in OU’s fourth at-bat of the game to get on the board first, and Ricketts followed with a two-run blast of her own two batters later to give the Sooners a 5-0 lead and force the Red Raiders to pull Talley after recording just one out.

Kirmitria Ward relieved Talley and allowed one more run in the inning to give OU a quick 6-0 advantage. The Sooners added a run in the third inning on another home run, this time a solo shot by Chana’e Jones. They did not score again for the rest of the day.

The Sooners will return to action Wednesday in a doubleheader against Kansas starting at 4 p.m.