No. 3 Softball Sweeps Texas Tech

LUBBOCK, Texas Norrelle Dickson became the career runs scored leader at OU and put together a 4-for-5 outing at the plate with an RBI as the No. 3 Sooners won game two of their doubleheader against Texas Tech on Thursday, 7-3. Dickson is also only three hits shy of tying former Sooner Kristin Vesely's career hit record at OU (293 hits).

The Sooners improved to 2-0 in the Big 12 Conference and 35-2 overall with two wins over Texas Tech in the doubleheader as the Red Raiders fell to 0-2 in league play and 17-15 overall.

Powered by Dickson and a big five-run fifth inning, the Sooners' offense recorded 11 hits in the contest. Jamie Fox was the only other Sooner to record multiple hits as the outfielder went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a double.

D.J. Mathis earned the start for the Sooners and settled down after giving up two runs in the bottom of the first. The lefty improved her record to 9-2 on the year as she struck out four and only allowed two earned runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings. Lauren Eckermann, who earned the win in the first game, came in for relief in the final 1.2 innings and gave up one run and two hits while striking out two.

OU 7, Texas Tech 3

The Red Raiders were the first to get on the board in game two. Tech leadoff batter Ashley Parker opened the bottom of the first with a single to center field and stole second, but a throwing error by OU catcher Lindsey Vandever advanced Parker to third. Devin Zaragoza singled to right field to score Parker and give Tech the initial 1-0 lead. Zaragoza advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Jennifer Corkin's RBI double.

The Sooners answered in the top of the second as Savannah Long doubled down the left field line with two outs to give OU momentum. Traci Dickenson walked to put runners at first and second with two outs. Returning to the top of the lineup, Dickson pounded an RBI single to left field to close the gap to 2-1.

Oklahoma loaded the bases in the third, but couldn't get a runner across the plate. However, the Sooners tied it in the top of the fourth as Dickson led off the frame with a double to left center field. Two outs later, Ricketts delivered her 54th RBI of the season as her single to center field scored Dickson. The run made Dickson the all-time career leader at OU in runs scored as she passed former Sooner Christy Ring. Dickson now owns the top mark with 208 runs scored after scoring again in the top of the fifth.

The Sooners came back in the top of the fifth to take the lead. Vandever led off the frame with a single to left field and scored on Jamie Fox's double as OU took its first lead at 3-2. An out later, Dickenson repeated the play with an RBI double to stretch OU's lead to 4-2. Dickson followed with a single, but a throwing error by Tech's shortstop put the ball in the dugout as Dickenson advanced home on the error and Dickson moved to second.

Mariee Mena continued the rally with a single as the Sooners had runners on the corners. Amber Spaulding pinch ran for Mena, but was caught stealing for the second out of the inning. It looked as if the inning was going to end on Amber Flores' ground ball to the second baseman, but a throwing error continued the frame as Flores advanced to second and Dickson scored on the error to push OU's lead to 6-2. With Ricketts at the plate, Flores advanced to third on a wild pitch and extended OU's lead to 7-2 as she scored on another wild pitch before the top of the fifth came to a close.

Tech added a run in the bottom of the seventh as Ashley Parker led off with a double and scored on Montana Patin's RBI single to close the gap, 7-3.

OU will continue its Texas road trip as it heads to Austin. The Sooners will take on the No. 10 Texas Longhorns on Saturday (1 p.m. CT) and Sunday (noon).

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