No. 1 Sooners Advance to Big 12 Championship Game

Friday, May 13

Oklahoma City, Okla.

1 PM CT

University of Oklahoma

49-1

Iowa State

28-27

Iowa State

Oklahoma

No. 1 Sooners Advance to Big 12 Championship Game

May 13, 2022 | Softball

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The top-ranked and conference No. 1 seed Oklahoma softball team advanced to Saturday's Big 12 Championship Game with a 5-0 win over four-seed Iowa State in Friday's semifinals.

The win was highlighted by a 14-strikeout, shutout performance from redshirt senior Hope Trautwein and a first-inning grand slam from senior captain Lynnsie Elam.

"Really pleased with the way we played today, especially with the way we came out," said head coach Patty Gasso. "Attacked early, scored early, which was great. The story of the game for me was Hope."

The Sooners (49-1) took no time in getting the bats going, putting up four runs on three hits in the first inning. After a leadoff groundout, back-to-back singles from Jocelyn Alo and Tiare Jennings put two aboard. Then following a two-out walk to Alyssa Brito, Elam launched her second career grand slam to put OU up four after one inning.

Through two innings, Trautwein retired six of the first seven Cyclones (28-27) via strikeout. The Sooners tacked on their final run of the game in the second via an RBI single from junior Rylie Boone. Following a leadoff single from fellow junior Kinzie Hansen, Boone ripped the scoring single to center.

The final five innings went scoreless while Trautwein (16-0) continued to deal. The freshly-minted All-Big 12 First Team selection finished with a complete-game shutout, her seventh of the season, and 14 strikeouts to one walk and two hits. It was Trautwein's OU career-high strikeout total and fourth double-digit K performance of the season. The shutout was OU's nation-best 29th of the year.

"It's really exciting," said Trautwein. "I know that postseason means elevation—elevation of our game and mentality. It's easy to do that when I have a whole team and coaching staff behind me who lead the way. But it means a lot. It means a lot that this program is such a force in postseason, and I get to be a part of it."

Alo and Boone paced OU at the plate with 2-for-3 showings while four other Sooners collected a hit in the game. Elam (4 RBI) and Boone (1 RBI) combined to bring in OU's five runs.

The Sooners meet the winner of the second semifinal of the day between two-seed Oklahoma State and three-seed Texas. The championship game is slated for 2 p.m. CT Saturday on ESPN2.

Oklahoma is going for its fifth consecutive Big 12 Championship win and eighth overall. The title would be OU's 22nd Big 12 title in program history.

The game can be heard on 107.7 The Franchise in Oklahoma and nationwide on The Varsity app.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma softball, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_Softball) and like Oklahoma Softball on Facebook.