Oklahoma (27-1, 6-0 Big 12) swept Texas Tech (21-8, 2-4) 14-0, 15-2 and 11-1 in a three-game series at Rocky Johnson Field in Lubbock, Texas.
Senior shortstop Tiare Jennings recorded three home runs and 12 RBIs throughout the three games. Sunday’s win also marked head coach Patty Gasso’s 400th win in conference play; she is the first Big 12 coach, in any sport, to do so.
Here are the three takeaways from the Sooners’ wins:
Sooners’ scoring success
Oklahoma got started early and never looked back on Friday.
The Sooners tallied a total of 14 runs against the Red Raiders in the first game of the series.OU went 12 of 31 at the plate batting .387, and only one OU batter struck out. Texas Tech also walked the Sooners 13 times.
In the Sooners’ high scoring shutout, the bats were hot, and half of their scores were due to home runs.
It was a pitching nightmare for the Lady Raiders’ pitching rotation as OU clocked four homers — two by Jennings, one by senior catcher Kinzie Hansen and one by senior utility Alynah Torres. Not only did Jennings record two home runs, but she also earned a season-high in RBIs on Friday, after recording six.
Saturday’s contest was no different.
The Sooners outscored the Red Raiders 15-2, and went on a 12-0 run to start the game — which marks the most runs OU has scored in an inning since it recorded 12 in the fifth inning against Kansas on April 30, 2022.
Oklahoma batted .542 in the second matchup, and freshman utility Kasidi Pickering recorded the only homer.
The finale of the three-game slate also featured a dominant OU offensive performance.
In the matchup, the Sooners tallied 11 runs and had three home runs. Senior utility player Alyssa Brito accounted for two of them, and Jennings had the other.
In the third matchup, OU batted for 12 of 33.
Maxwell continues to excel
Senior graduate transfer Kelly Maxwell had one of her best performances of the season during the first game of the series slate.
Maxwell pitched for six innings, recorded 10 strikeouts — the most she’s had in a game this year — and kept the Red Raiders batters at bay with two scoreless hits.
Texas Tech’s batting lineup went 2 of 23 and averaged .087.
With the win, the Oklahoma State transfer is 8-0 as a starting pitcher this year. With a total of 14 appearances in 2024, Maxwell has pitched for 48.0 innings, garnered 56 strikeouts and has allowed nine runs.
OU’s solid defense
Oklahoma’s offense scored 40 runs over the course of the weekend, but it held Texas Tech to just three runs in three games
The Red Raiders were held scoreless by the Sooners’ defense in the first contest, and OU allowed just two runs in the second matchup and one in the third.
OU only recorded two errors in the entire series.
One fielding error was made by senior infielder Cydney Sanders who had a miscalculation in Saturday’s game during the fourth inning. The other occurred in Sunday’s meeting when senior center fielder Jayda Coleman could not successfully make a catch in the sixth inning.
Next, the Sooners play UT Arlington (10-16, 1-1 WAC) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in Norman at Love’s Field.
This story was edited by Gracie Rawlings
