Softball Sweeps ISU with 9-1 Win

April 20, 2008

Oklahoma 9, Iowa State 1

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Oklahoma	2	1	2	0	0	0	4	9	7	0
Iowa State	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	8	1

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Eckermann (11-4)	4.1	5	1	1	1	5
L - Ford (4-5)	2.2	4	5	5	2	1

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	TB
OU - Vandever	4	2	2	3	0	4
OU - Long	3	1	2	3	1	5

Sooner Softball Central

2008 OU Softball Media Guide

AMES, Iowa-- The No. 8 Oklahoma softball team swept Iowa State on Sunday morning as it picked up the 9-1 victory in the second game of the two-game series.

Oklahoma improved to 37-11 overall and 10-2 in the conference while the Cyclones dropped to 26-21 and 3-8 in the league.

Senior pitchers Lauren Eckermann and Jaydn Smith combined to allow one run on eight hits while striking out nine in the contest. Eckermann, who earned the start and threw 4.1 innings, improved to 11-4 on the season with the victory.

Offensively, the Sooners put up seven hits against the Cyclones with Susan Ogden and Savannah Long leading the way as each belted their 10th home run of the season. Long finished 2-for-3 with three RBI while sophomore Lindsey Vandever also added a 2-for-4 effort, including a three-RBI triple in the seventh.

Ogden fired up the Sooner squad in the top of the first inning with a two-run blast, driving in Amber Flores who was hit by a pitch in her first at-bat, which easily cleared the left field wall. The home run was Ogden's 10th of the season and gave OU the early 2-0 lead.

Jessica Legendre got the Sooners going in the top of the second as she drew a walk to get on base. After a Haley Anderson ground out, Flores stepped to the plate and hit a bloop single to center field driving in Legendre from second base.

Alex Johnson brought the Cyclones within two runs after her solo home run in the bottom of the second inning. Sydni Jones followed that up with a double of the top of the left-center field fence to get in scoring position before Lauren Eckermann halted the rally with a strikeout of Jacquelyn Beatty.

Vandever set Oklahoma up in the top of the third as she got on base with a single to set up the shortstop Long. The Midwest City product turned on a Cyclone pitch and sent if for a ride over the left field fence to drive in Vandever to extend the Sooner lead to 5-1. The home run was the captain's 10th of the season.

Iowa State made things interesting in the bottom of the third. After a Kristy Olsen walk, Kelsey Kidwell reached on a fielder's choice to bring runners up on first and second with no outs.

Eckermann responded with a strikeout of Courtney Wray and forced a ground ball to herself off the bat of Ariel Coburn to once again halt a Cyclone rally with two runners on base.

After a slow fourth inning for both teams, Iowa State led off the bottom of the fifth with a single by Carrie Monroe. Monroe was quickly subbed for Carleigh Berry to pinch run and Berry was caught stealing by Vandever who fired to Flores for the out at second. Next up, Olsen singled to left which brought a visit to the mound by the OU staff and Smith was inserted for Eckermann.

After the pitching change Kidwell hit a dribbler back to Smith at the mound and she beat the throw for a single to put runners on first and second. Smith responded with a strong strikeout of Coburn. Smith then forced a grounder to Legendre at third, who then tossed to Samantha Ricketts at first for the third out of the inning, and once again halted a potential Cyclone rally.

The Cyclones recorded two singles in the bottom of the sixth after the first two batters grounded out. Smith forced a ground out by Monroe to leave two runners on base to end the inning.

After a throwing error allowed Flores to reach second in the top of the seventh, Krystle Huey singled to left and stole second on the very next pitch. After a Dani Dobbs pop out to left Rickets was hit by a pitch to load the bases. With the bases loaded Vandever took full advantage with a bases-clearing three-run triple as she lined the pitch to center field.

The hit gave the Sooners a commanding 8-1 lead, with Long back at the plate. Long lined a shot off the third baseman's glove and the ball dribbled into left field and allowed Vandever to come home, pushing the lead to 9-1.

Smith retired the first three batters of the seventh to end the game in a 9-1 OU win.

Next, the Sooners will open the week on Tuesday in Stillwater against OSU in a postponed game from April 2. The game time has been moved to 7 p.m. for television purposes. The game was originally scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The game will resume with the Sooners leading 2-0 in the bottom of the second.

OU will follow that with a rematch with Oklahoma State on Wednesday in Norman with the contest set to begin at 7 p.m.

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