Sooners Beat No. 4 Washington in Extra Innings

OU handed Washington just its second loss of the season.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:16 pm

By: News On 6

Sooners Beat No. 4 Washington in Extra Innings

Originally Published: Mar 19, 2011 2:20 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

FULLERTON, Calif. – The Oklahoma softball team needed extra innings, but finished play at the Judi Garman Classic with a 7-6 victory over No. 4 Washington Saturday.

The teams finished the sixth inning tied 5-5 and neither team could push across a run in the seventh. The Sooners (26-7) broke that tie with two runs in the eighth.

After a runner was placed on second to start the inning, Haley Nix advanced her to third with a lead-off single. Nix followed by stealing second base, butting two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Keilani Ricketts took advantage with a two-run single in the next at-bat.

Ricketts took the mound in the bottom of the inning with a chance to secure the win. She struck out the first batter she faced, but threw a wild pitch in the next at-bat to advance the placed runner to third.

Ricketts eventually struck out that batter as well, but allowed a single to Kimi Pohlman that drove home a run and put the tying run on base. Ricketts responded by forcing a pop-up by Jenn Salling to end the game.

Ricketts pitched all eight innings to earn the win, and only one of the six runs she allowed was earned. The OU defense committed three errors that allowed the other five runs to score. Ricketts gave up a total of eight hits and struck out 11.

The loss was only the second of the season for Washington (21-2), which started the year with 20 consecutive victories. OU has recovered from a difficult stretch in which it lost four games in two days by winning 15 of its last 17 games.

The Sooners now are done playing regular season tournament and will return to Oklahoma to face Tulsa at 6 p.m. Wednesday. They will begin Big 12 play against Nebraska at 2 p.m. next Saturday.