Sooners Leave Vegas with Second Shutout

Sunday, February 14

Las Vegas, Nev.

11:00 AM

University of Oklahoma

Long Beach State

Sooners Leave Vegas with Second Shutout

February 14, 2016 | Softball

By: Karl Anderson

Long Beach State

^9/8 Oklahoma

Box Score

Inning-by-Inning
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
OU	1	0	1	0	2	0	3	7	12	1
LBSU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1

Pitching
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Stevens (2-1)	4.0	2	0	0	0	1
L - Meza (1-1)	4.1	7	4	4	2	3
S - N/A	-	-	-	-	-	-

Individual Leaders
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Miller	3	3	2	1	1	1
LBSU - Perkins	2	0	1	0	1	0

Game Notes
Oklahoma now leads the all-time series against Long Beach State, 11-1 ... Erin Miller homered in the first inning for the second straight game; it was the fourth time in her career she homered in consecutive games ... she also tripled in the fifth inning; it was the 10th of her career to tie for eighth place in OU history ... freshman Sydney Romero had a career-high three hits ... junior Macey Hatfield hit her first home run of the season and the fifth of her career; including that home run, three of her homers have been as a pinch hitter ... Long Beach State is OU head coach Patty Gasso's alma mater and was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2013; she is 8-1 all-time against her former school ... OU has outscored oppponents 26-2 during its current win streak

Game Notes

Oklahoma now leads the all-time series against Long Beach State, 11-1 ... Erin Miller homered in the first inning for the second straight game; it was the fourth time in her career she homered in consecutive games ... she also tripled in the fifth inning; it was the 10th of her career to tie for eighth place in OU history ... freshman Sydney Romero had a career-high three hits ... junior Macey Hatfield hit her first home run of the season and the fifth of her career; including that home run, three of her homers have been as a pinch hitter ... Long Beach State is OU head coach Patty Gasso's alma mater and was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2013; she is 8-1 all-time against her former school ... OU has outscored oppponents 26-2 during its current win streak

LAS VEGAS – No. 9/8 Oklahoma (3-2) ran its winning streak to three games with a 7-0 victory over Long Beach State (2-3) Sunday morning in the Sooners' final game at the Sportco Kick Off Classic in Las Vegas, Nev.

It was the Sooners' second straight victory by a score of 7-0 and, after being outscored 11-3 in its first two games, OU has outscored its opponents 26-2 during the current winning streak.

Senior Erin Miller and freshman Sydney Romero were the catalysts offensively for the Sooners in the win. Miller went 2-3 with three runs scored and her second homer of the season, while Romero had a career-high three hits with two runs driven in. Senior Kady Self also had a multi-hit game for OU in addition to scoring a run and driving in one.

Sophomore Paige Parker and senior Kelsey Stevens combined on OU's second shutout of the season. Parker went the first three innings and allowed just two hits with one strikeout and one walk. Stevens then came on in the fourth and gave up just two hits with one strikeout to improve her record to 2-1.

Long Beach State is actually the alma mater of OU head coach Patty Gasso, and she was inducted into the school's hall of fame in November 2013. She is now 8-1 all-time as a coach against her former school.

Just like she did Saturday night against Syracuse, Miller launched a first inning home run to stake the Sooners to an early lead. With two outs, Miller pulled a 2-1 pitch over the fences in right field for the 13th homer of her career. It was the fourth time in her career that she homered in consecutive games.

The Sooners doubled their lead in the third with Miller involved once again.

The Tulsa, Okla., native began the inning with a walk and moved to second thanks to Self's sacrifice bunt. The move paid off as sophomore Lea Wodach came up next and pounded a double to the gap in left center, enabling Miller to score her.

Oklahoma doubled its lead again thanks to a two-run fifth inning.

Miller continued her standout game as she tripled to center field on a full-count pitch. It was her second of the season and the 10th of her career, tying her with two others for eighth place in Oklahoma history. Self followed Miller with a sharp single through the left side to extend OU's lead to 3-0.

Two batters later, freshman Caleigh Clifton walked to put runners on first and second and Romero drove in Self with a single back up the middle.

OU then tacked on three insurance runs in the top of the seventh.

With one out, junior Macey Hatfield entered as a pinch hitter. After fouling off a pitch to stay alive, she drilled a 2-2 pitch to center field for her first home run of the season the fifth of her career. Of her five home runs, three have come in a pinch-hit role.

Freshman Shay Knighten came up next as another pinch hitter and singled to right center. She came all the way around to score when Romero hit her team-leading second double of the season. Romero took third on the throw home and, two batters later, scored thanks to senior Tori Nirschl's infield single.

Oklahoma's defense was impressive during the game, helping the pitching staff limit Long Beach State to just one runner beyond first base. After a turning a 6-4-3 double play in the first inning, the infield defense really shined in the fifth.

It started with a spectacular catch by freshman second baseman Caleigh Clifton. She raced back on a blooper to shallow right center and used full extension to make a diving, over-the-shoulder grab for the first out. Sophomore Kelsey Arnold then fielded a grounder at shortstop. Her throw was high but Self jumped up and was able to place a tag on the runner for the second out. Arnold atoned for the errant throw with a smooth backhanded stop in the hole at short and throw for the final out.

Oklahoma is back in action next weekend at the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, N.M. Hosted by New Mexico State, the Sooners face the Aggies twice, while also taking on Creighton and Western Michigan.