Softball Picks Away at Deficit to Defeat New Mexico State

March 16, 2001

FULLERTON, Calif. - Oklahoma (25-3) fell behind early and rallied behind timely hits and an outstanding effort by reliever Jennifer Stewart to defeat New Mexico State (11-26) in the championship bracket of the Kia Klassic on Friday night. After giving up four runs in the first, OU scored two in the third and one in the final three innings to down the Aggies 5-4.

All Stewart did was pitch a perfect game and hold off NMSU so that OU could have a chance to get back in the game. The junior recorded a career-high 13 strikeouts and retired all 19 batters she faced.

Freshman Adrianne Ratliff got the start and quickly picked up the first two outs of the game. But the Aggies tagged her with a pair of two-run homers to take a 4-0 lead. NMSU's Amber Mosher singled up the middle and scored on a Melissa Briggs homer to left field. The next batter, Heather Nobbe, singled to right field and was brought home on another homer to left by Adrian Nobles.

But that was all for the New Mexico State offense. Head coach Patty Gasso called on Stewart to come in and repair the damage done by the Aggie batters. She came in and struck out Anita Knight to get OU out of the inning and put the offense on the field and carried the momentum into the final six innings.

Aggie starter Judy Blok worked through the first two innings by giving up only one hit--a single up the middle by Jennifer Stump. But by the third inning, the top of the lineup got a second look at her and started to hit the freshman. With two outs, Christy Ring singled to center field and scored when Kelli Braitsch homered to left field.

OU cut the deficit to one in the fifth when Erin Evans dropped a ball into center field. After Evans stole second, Ring hit a ball to Briggs at third base, who scooped up the ball and threw to Mosher at first. But the junior let the ball hit off her glove and roll to the fence and that allowed Evans to score.

The Sooners loaded the bases in the sixth, but got only run one out of the inning. Senior Lisa Carey singled to right center in the sixth and Ashli Barrett sacrificed her over with a bunt to third. Stump advanced Carey to third with a shot to left center and Andrea Davis recorded an RBI single through the left side for the tying run.

With the scored tied at 4-4, Ring led off the inning by hitting a ball to the shortstop and then beating the throw for the safe call. Braitsch followed with a fielder's choice, but an error by the shortstop allowed Ring to reach second safely. Carey also hit a ball to the shortstop and beat the throw for a base hit to load the bases. The winning run came when Blok's pitch sailed to the left of the catcher, allowing Ring to cross home plate.

Blok gave up five runs (four earned) on 10 hits in the loss. She struck out six and walked one.

Stump led the OU batters with a 3-for-3 performance. The top of the order continued to produce consistent numbers for OU, going 5-for-11 from Ring (2-for-4, two runs), Braitsch (1-for-3, two RBI, run) and Carey (2-for-4, one run).

Oklahoma, who joins Arizona State as the only teams without a loss in the tournament, continues its run in the championship bracket on Saturday. It returns to action at 5 p.m. CT and will face the winner of the DePaul/UNLV game.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Softball Picks Away at Deficit to Defeat New Mexico State

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