Knighten Reflects on Special Weekend

Last weekend in Fullerton, Calif., was an eventful one for Oklahoma freshman Shay Knighten as the Sooners went 4-1 in five games. Saturday night she helped OU beat No. 6 Alabama with a walk-off home run. The next day, she faced her sister, MJ, a junior at Nebraska. SoonerSports.com met up with Shay to reflect on the weekend that was.

Q: With a win over DePaul and loss to Cal State Fullerton Friday, what was the team's mood like after finishing the first day 1-1?

A: “We weren't satisfied. We knew what went down, what we had to do, what we had to accomplish. The fact that we didn't quite get it in the second game, it made us think more about what we were doing. Trying to fix our plan, try to attack our plan and just figure things out from there. We were trying to figure out what went wrong and how we could make it better throughout the weekend.”

Q: Alabama starting pitcher Alexis Osorio held OU hitless for six innings and struck out 11 straight batters at one point. What was she doing that made her so tough too hit against?

A: “I don't know. She has always been a top-notch pitcher; she's always been fantastic. Our plan was to just go in there and attack the ball down in the zone, but it looks so good when you are up there and you can't help yourself but swing. She was really mixing up her pitches; she was really getting us to think we were seeing the ball down in the zone but really it wasn't. So we were trying to figure out different plans throughout the game, each inning, something different and you could tell that we were on it it's just we weren't putting it together. So by the time we got toward the end we were like, 'We got this; we're handling this.'”

Q: Did the mood change after Sydney Romero got that first hit to lead off the seventh inning?

A: "I think it did. I think once Sydney got that hit we kind of exhaled a little bit and were like, 'We know we can hit her,' and the fact that Sydney did sort of opened the gates for us. We just thought attack early, look for your pitch see it down and go for it. I think once Sydney got on that allowed us to breathe a little bit too just relax and play.”

Q: Take us through your at-bat against Osorio when you hit the walk-off home run. What was your approach?

“Well,?I've always been a teammate of Lex (on the Corona Angels) so I knew what she had, but actually playing a game against here was kind of different for me. I knew I wanted to attack the ball down in the zone. I knew she had a rise ball, a really good rise ball, and I did a pretty good job laying off those I thought. Going into my third at-bat I knew she was going to come with a rise ball. She was going to try to get me to look at that first pitch that is in the zone, so I was going to take my hacks early in the count. I just missed the curveball outside. I fouled off the second rise ball and I knew she was going to come back with another one. It was either going to be closer in the zone or way high. I saw that ball at least at my chest and I knew I could get on top of it and I just went for it.”

Q: Did you exchange texts with Osorio after the game?

A: “Yeah, she texted me because both Sydney and I were her teammates, so she texted us saying 'Good job, you guys are studs.' Syd and I simply replied back with 'You're a stud, too; you did awesome,' so we are always going to have that good mutual friendship, but on the field we are like 'I'm going to get you.'

Q: What was the feeling round the bases and your teammates waiting for you?

A: “It was exciting; I was really excited as soon as I hit it. I was like 'Oh my gosh, this ball is going out.' We have those feelings when the ball is going out. Running behind Sydney (on the bases) I was like, 'Oh my god, I just hit a home run.' Sydney is running and looking back at me saying 'Yeah Shay; you did it!' and when I was rounding third seeing all my teammates faces; they were so happy. I was like, 'Oh my god, I did it; I helped my team out,' and to see their faces just made it all much better.”

Q: How much did that Alabama win help boost the morale of the team coming off the loss to Cal State Fullerton and other top 25 losses that you've had earlier in the year?

A: “I wouldn't say it boosted our confidence, but how we thought about the game and how we went about ourselves. I've always known about (the history between) Oklahoma and Alabama and for me to go out there and just give them win I could see not only the senior's faces, but everyone's faces who have played Alabama and could see how excited they were. Beating Alabama kind of gave us another fire; those losses we had earlier this season, those weren't meant to happen. To beat Alabama made us feel like okay we know that we can beat these teams. If we see them later on, it's on."

Q: Moving ahead to Sunday, had you ever played your sister before?

A: “Never. We were always teammates.”

Q: Was it weird playing against her?

A: “I felt a little weird about it, but we have such a strong bond that no matter what happens whoever wins, whoever loses it doesn't matter because we are always going to be sisters. If we both do well, we're fine. We don't really care about the matchup; the win or the loss, but it felt good for me to win. I was like 'I beat my older sister at something.' It was fun, I really liked it.”

Q: Did you guys talk about it at all leading up to it?

A: “No, actually we didn't. The morning of she texted me saying 'good luck' and I texted her back 'good luck,' so it was just a sisterly love kind of thing.”

Q: Did you two talk after the game?

A: “Yeah, we definitely did. We kind of hugged each other during the (postgame handshake) line; we kind of stopped the line a little bit. We just talked about each other; it wasn't anything about the game specifically.”

Q: Living so close to Fullerton, what was it like for you to have all your friends and family in the stands?

A: “I loved having all my friends at the stadium. It helped me get that mindset that I don't have to press because I am always going to have my family, I am always going to have my friends, my sister is there watching me even though she is playing against me; she's low-key rooting for me. So it was fun to play in front of my family and to just see how excited my family and friends were, just to see that my sister and I were playing against each other and how fun it was and how we just kind of laughed it off and were smiling at each other, making jokes at each other on the field. I could tell that they were happy about it. They were having fun; it's not a sibling rivalry just go out and do what you love. You're playing against your sister why not have fun.”

Players Mentioned

Shay Knighten

Sydney Romero

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics