Oklahoma Fends Off Creighton, 11-4

Friday, February 19

Las Cruces, N.M.

2:30 PM

University of Oklahoma

Creighton

February 19, 2016 | Softball

By: Karl Anderson

Creighton

^14/10 Oklahoma

Box Score

Audio Highlights

Inning-by-Inning
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CU	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	4	9	2
OU	3	2	2	0	2	2	x	11	14	1

Pitching
?	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Stevens (3-1)	5.0	2	0	0	3	9
L - Whitney (0-3)	3.0	6	4	4	1	0
S - N/A	-	-	-	-	-	-

Individual Leaders
?	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Aviu	4	1	2	2	0	1
CU - Allender	3	0	3	1	1	0

Game Notes
Oklahoma now leads the all-time series against Creighton, 17-11 ... OU has won 16 straight in the series dating back to 1992, its fourth longest active win streak against another team ... the Sooners set season highs for hits (14) and RBI (10) ... it was the second time this year that OU did not strike out (Lamar) ... freshman Fale Aviu hit the first home run of career in the second inning ... sophomore Lea Wodach made her ninth career start at catcher, her first since March 31 of last year against Central Arkansas ... Wodach tied a career high with three hits ... Kelsey Stevens has now gone three straight appearances and 16.0 innings without allowing a run

Game Notes

Oklahoma now leads the all-time series against Creighton, 17-11 ... OU has won 16 straight in the series dating back to 1992, its fourth longest active win streak against another team ... the Sooners set season highs for hits (14) and RBI (10) ... it was the second time this year that OU did not strike out (Lamar) ... freshman Fale Aviu hit the first home run of career in the second inning ... sophomore Lea Wodach made her ninth career start at catcher, her first since March 31 of last year against Central Arkansas ... Wodach tied a career high with three hits ... Kelsey Stevens has now gone three straight appearances and 16.0 innings without allowing a run

LAS CRUCES, N.M. ? After jumping out to an early 7-0 lead, No. 14/10 Oklahoma (4-2) held off Creighton (2-5) on its way to an 11-4 victory Friday at the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, N.M. It was the Sooners' 16th consecutive win over the Bluejays dating back to 1991, their fourth longest active win streak against another team.

The Sooners scored at least two runs in each of the first three innings before the Bluejays trimmed the lead to 7-4 thanks to a four-run fourth inning. OU battled back, though, with two runs each in the fifth and sixth innings.

Oklahoma had a season-high 14 hits in the win as four different hitters had at least two hits, led by sophomore Lea Wodach tying a career high with three hits. Freshmen Fale Aviu and Caleigh Clifton each drove in two runs, as did senior Erin Miller.

Senior Kelsey Stevens earned the win for the third game in a row for OU. She threw the first 3.0 innings before being lifted for freshman Jayden Chestnut. After Chestnut gave up four runs over 2.0 innings, Stevens re-entered to toss the final two frames.

Stevens struck out a season-high nine batters with three walks and two hits allowed. It was Stevens' third straight appearance without allowing a run, while her streak stands at 16.0 consecutive scoreless innings.

OU used a two-out rally to score three runs in the first inning.

After a lineout and groundout, Miller was hit by a pitch and moved to second when senior Kady Self singled to shortstop on a high chopper. A walk to freshman Sydney Romero then filled the bases. Freshman Shay Knighten batted next and sent a grounder to shortstop, but the flip to second was not in time to force out the hustling Romero, resulting in OU's first run.

Wodach, making her first start at catcher since March 31 of last year, then hit a sharp single to left field to bring home Self. OU then added its third run when a Creighton error allowed Clifton to reach safely and Romero to cross the plate.

Two more runs came across in the second.

Aviu led off the inning with the first home run of her career. Coming on a 3-1 count, the Oceanside, Calif., native lifted it to left center to extend the Sooners' lead to 6-0. Sophomore Nicole Pendley kept the pressure on the Bluejays as she doubled to left, while Miller followed with a single and Self lifted a sacrifice fly to center.

The lead grew to 7-0 thanks to a second straight two-run inning in the third as Pendley drew a walk with the bases loaded and Miller added an RBI single to right field.

Creighton would not go quietly though, scoring four runs in the top of the fourth against Chestnut. The Bluejays had five hits, four of which were singles, to mark the biggest scoring inning allowed by OU on the season.

The Sooners didn't let CU get any closer, however, and pushed the lead back with two runs in the fifth.

Junior Macey Hatfield entered as a pinch hitter and walked. Fellow pinch hitter then singled through the left side to put two runners on. Aviu picked up her second RBI with a single back up the middle, while Miller got hers with a sacrifice fly to center field.

In the sixth, Clifton hit her second triple of the season to drive home Romero and Wodach for the Sooners' final runs.