One Awful Inning Dooms Sooners against Missouri

Originally Published: Mar 27, 2010 5:3 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

NORMAN, Oklahoma – The Oklahoma softball team suffered through a horrendous sixth inning that ended its bid for an upset and resulted in an 11-5 loss to No. 3 Missouri Thursday.

The Sooners (26-8) entered the sixth up by two, but went through three pitchers in the inning and gave up a total of eight runs thanks to a series of Mizzou (23-3) hits with the bases loaded. Keilani Ricketts started the inning pitching for OU, and allowed three of the first four batters to reach base – one on a walk and another on an error – and quickly load the bases.

The next batter converted with an RBI single to cut OU’s lead to 5-4, which drove Ricketts from the game and brought in Kirsten Allen. Allen gave up two straight singles that each brought in another run, giving Missouri its first lead of the day at 6-5. The Sooners then committed their most costly mistake of the game.

With the bases still loaded with one out, first baseman Jessica Shults fielded a short ground ball with a chance to force out the runner at home plate. But her throw dropped into the dirt and past catcher Lindsay Vandever, allowing two runners to score and giving Missouri a three-run lead.

The next Tiger batter, Ashley Fleming, blew the game completely open with a three-run home run and finally cleared the bases. But that didn’t last long, as Allen had trouble finding the plate and allowed the next three batters on base to load the bases yet again.

Kirsten Allen was pulled after giving up four runs and failing to record an out, and Allee Allen entered in the same precarious position: with the bases loaded and one out. But the first batter she faced hit a liner back at her, which she caught and quickly spun to throw the runner out at second for a double play.

The sixth inning mercifully ended, but the damage had been done. A total of 14 Missouri batters came to the plate, ending in eight runs on only three hits. The Sooners committed a total of three errors in the inning, and their pitchers walked an additional three batters. Neither team scored for the rest of the game, and Missouri finished with 11 runs on eight hits.

The Sooners’ abysmal sixth inning came after they dominated the early frames. They scored the first five runs of the game in the second and third innings, with Chana’e Jones starting things with a bases-clearing double in the second. Dani Dobbs connected on a two-run home run in the next inning to stretch the lead to 5-0.

Meanwhile, Ricketts kept the dangerous Missouri offense at bay. She struck out the side in the first inning and carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning. The momentum began to shift in the fourth, when Catherine Lee blasted a three-run home run to cut OU’s lead to two and set up the Tigers’ explosion in the sixth.

The Sooners have now lost four of their last six games and will have to face Missouri again at noon Sunday.