OU Holds Off No. 15 Washington, 8-7

Washington

Oklahoma

Inning-by-Inning
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
OU	1	4	1	0	0	0	2	8	10	1
WASH	0	0	0	0	0	6	1	7	10	2

Pitching
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Stevens (2-0)	1.0	2	1	1	1	1
L - Stanchek (1-2)	5.0	6	3	3	2	4
S - Parker (2)	6.0	4	4	4	2	2

Individual Leaders
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Chamberlain	4	2	3	3	0	1
UW - Gano	4	1	2	4	0	1

Player of the Game
Lauren Chamberlain // Sr. // IF Chamberlain drove in a team-high three runs as she went 3-4 at the plate with two runs scored. Chamberlain hit a solo home run in the first inning to push her career total to 77 and put her just 13 away from tying the all-time mark. She added singles in the second and fourth innings. On the year, she leads the team with a .579 batting average (11-19).

Game Notes
Oklahoma now leads the all-time series against Washington, 11-10 ... all 21 games in the series have come with both teams ranked ... the Sooners are 7-0 for the seventh time in school history, all of which have come under head coach Patty Gasso ... Lauren Chamberlain hit her team-best fifth home run of the season and the 77th of her career ... Chamberlain is now alone in seventh on the all-time home run list after passing Arizona's Jenny Dalton (1993-96) and sits 13 away from tying the all-time record of 90 ... with six total bases in the game, Chamberlain now has 464 in her career to tie former teammate Jessica Shults (2010-13) for second in Big 12 and Oklahoma history ... a one-out walk in the third inning issued by Paige Parker snapped a streak of 24 straight batters retired, dating back to the final two batters of the game against DePaul on Feb. 7 ... a single allowed by Parker in the sixth innings broke a 10-inning hitless streak ... the four runs Parker allowed were the first four of her season after starting with 16.2 scoreless innings

Game Notes

Oklahoma now leads the all-time series against Washington, 11-10 ... all 21 games in the series have come with both teams ranked ... the Sooners are 7-0 for the seventh time in school history, all of which have come under head coach Patty Gasso ... Lauren Chamberlain hit her team-best fifth home run of the season and the 77th of her career ... Chamberlain is now alone in seventh on the all-time home run list after passing Arizona's Jenny Dalton (1993-96) and sits 13 away from tying the all-time record of 90 ... with six total bases in the game, Chamberlain now has 464 in her career to tie former teammate Jessica Shults (2010-13) for second in Big 12 and Oklahoma history ... a one-out walk in the third inning issued by Paige Parker snapped a streak of 24 straight batters retired, dating back to the final two batters of the game against DePaul on Feb. 7 ... a single allowed by Parker in the sixth innings broke a 10-inning hitless streak ... the four runs Parker allowed were the first four of her season after starting with 16.2 scoreless innings

TEMPE, Ariz. – For the first time in this young season, the Oklahoma softball team had to battle real adversity thanks to No. 15/15 Washington. The challenge was met and accepted, though, by the No. 4/3 Sooners (7-0) as they held off the Huskies, 8-7, at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Ariz.

After rolling through the first six opponents by a combined score of 66-9, including four run-rule wins, Friday's game against the Huskies (5-2) looked like it would be much of the same as OU held a 6-0 lead going into the sixth inning.

Freshman starter Paige Parker had yet to allow a hit, but her string of 10 consecutive hitless innings came to a quick close in the bottom of the sixth. Four of the first five batters singled and the 6-0 OU lead was trimmed to 6-2 with runners still on base and only one out.

A pitching change didn't slow down Washington's momentum and suddenly the game was tied at 6-6 after Courtney Gano hit a three-run homer and Dani Braun hit an RBI single three batters later.

With runners on the corners and one out, Oklahoma brought on its third pitcher of the inning and junior Kelsey Stevens was finally able to quiet the Washington bats. Julia DePonte hit a long fly ball to left field, but Self made a leaping catch at the wall to keep the game tied. Stevens then struck out Ali Aguilar with a rise ball to end the threat and the inning.

Despite giving up more runs in the sixth inning than they had in their entire opening weekend in Hawaii (five), the Sooners showed their resiliency and fought back in the seventh.

Senior Shelby Pendley led off with a single to left field and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Parker. With a runner in scoring position, junior Erin Miller rifled a single into the left field corner to break the tie and give OU the 7-6 lead.

Self then singled back up the middle and Miller, who had advanced to second after her single on a fielding error by Braun, moved to third to put runners on the corners. Junior Whitney Ellis batted next and laid down a perfect squeeze bunt. The ball landed in front of three Washington players and their indecision on fielding the ball enabled Miller to slide in safely from third.

The extra run loomed large as Washington did not go quietly in the bottom of the seventh.

With one out and runners on second and third, Gano singled up the middle to cut the lead to one run. Parker then re-entered the game in the circle to try to close out the contest. She got Trysten Melhart to pop out to Pendley at shortstop for the second out.

Gano stole second to put the winning run into scoring position, but on a 2-2 pitch, Parker induced a fly ball from Kelli Suguro to Self in left field for the final out.

In a relief effort, Stevens notched the win to move to 2-0. She struck out one and allowed one run and two hits in one inning of work. Even though she started the game, Parker was credited with the save for getting the final two outs.

Parker was dominant for the first five innings. A one-out walk in the third inning snapped a streak of 24 straight batters retired by Parker since the sixth inning against DePaul on Feb. 7. Her final line included four runs given up, the first four runs surrendered in her career after starting with 16.2 scoreless innings.

The save was the second of Parker's season as she struck out two, walked two and allowed four hits in 6.0 innings.

The Oklahoma offense started quickly as senior Lauren Chamberlain batted second and did what she does best.

Chamberlain turned on an 0-1 pitch and crushed it to left field for her team-best fifth home run of the season. It was the 77^th home run in Chamberlain's career, breaking a tie for seventh place on the all-time list with former Arizona Wildcat Jenny Dalton (1993-96). Chamberlain now sits just 13 away from tying the record of 90 and 14 away from breaking it.

A four-run second inning pushed the Oklahoma lead to 5-0. Chamberlain provided another big hit as she pulled a two-run single through the left side to make it 3-0. Fellow senior Shelby Pendley followed with a double that scored an additional two runs.

Oklahoma got a sixth run in the third inning behind a sacrifice fly by Self.

The Sooners return to action at the Littlewood Classic Saturday afternoon with a pair of games. They'll face Illinois State at 4:45 p.m. CT before taking on host-Arizona State at 9:15 p.m. CT.

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Players Mentioned

Lauren Chamberlain

Lauren Chamberlain

Erin Miller

Paige Parker

Shelby Pendley

Kelsey Stevens

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics