OU Claims Bedlam Bell with 2-1 Win

NORMAN, Okla. The No. 3 Oklahoma softball team notched its 11th straight victory in the Bedlam series as it edged Oklahoma State, 2-1, Wednesday night at Cowgirl Stadium in Stillwater, Okla. The Sooners claimed the Bedlam Bell for the fourth straight year and swept the Cowgirls for the 10th time out of the last 12 years.

The third-ranked Sooners pushed their overall record to 48-5 and 13-3 in conference play with only two Big 12 contests remaining. The Cowgirls fell to 25-28 and 3-11 in league play.

“This was not an easy win and there were a lot of tense moments in the game,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “It always seems that strange things happen in this series, but it's always a good thing when you can win a trophy and take the Bedlam Bell back to Norman.”

OU 2, Oklahoma State 1

Sooner ace Lauren Eckermann added her 30th win of the season as she improved to 30-2 on the year, which ranks second in the nation. The junior scattered six hits and gave up one run while striking out seven Cowgirls in the contest.

The Big 12-leading Sooner offense recorded eight hits of OSU's Jessica Hoppock, but stranded seven baserunners and was only able to get two runs across the plate. Jamie Fox added a home run and Samantha Ricketts' RBI scored OU's only two runs of the game. Freshman Amber Flores was the lone Sooners to record multiple hits as the rookie went 2-for-4 from the plate.

OU's RBI leader, Ricketts, put the Sooners on the board first as her RBI single up the middle of the infield scored Norrelle Dickson, who led off with an infield single as OU took the 1-0 lead after the top of the first. It marked Ricketts' 75th RBI of the season and now only trails the OU single season record by two (77 by Lisa Carey in 2000).

See how the Sooners stack up against OSU in the Bedlam Series presented by the Bank of Oklahoma and Your Oklahoma Ford Dealers!

For the second straight Bedlam game, Fox recorded a solo home run against the Cowgirls. The senior center fielder hit her seventh homer of the season over the center field wall in the top of the sixth to push the OU lead to 2-0.

The Cowgirls never threatened until the bottom of the seventh when they opened the frame with a lead-off walk and single to place runners at first and second with no outs. On the following play, Samantha Heinlein had a 1-2 count at the plate and was hit by a pitch. However, the home plate umpire ruled that Heinlein was attempting to swing when she got hit so the play was ruled a strikeout.

Eckermann retired the next batter as OSU still had runners at first and second with two outs as the nine-hole hitter hit a bloop RBI single over the left side of the infield to score OSU's only run of game. Next, Shanel Scott hit a bloop pop up over shortstop, but as OU's Savannah Long was chasing it down she was run into by the OSU baserunner. The runner was called out on interference to end the game.

Oklahoma will close out its Big 12 season this weekend with a road series to Kansas. The Sooners will meet up with the Jayhawks at 2 p.m. on Saturday and close out the Big 12 regular season with a 1 p.m. contest against KU at 1 p.m. Sunday.

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