Softball Hosts Texas A&M Commerce in Midweek Tilt

NORMAN – The Oklahoma Softball team continues its inaugural 11-game homestand at Love's Field with a midweek tilt against Texas A&M Commerce on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.

The No. 2/1 Sooners (18-1, 0-0 Big 12) meet the Lions (5-16, 0-0 Southland) for the first time in program history while Wednesday marks OU's first-ever midweek game at Love's Field.

Wednesday's game will be streamed on ESPN+ ($), 1560 AM/103.3 FM The Franchise 2 and 107.7 FM The Franchise.

Oklahoma opened Love's Field with wins over Miami (OH) and Liberty on Friday, earning its first two victories at the program's new stadium in front of a program-record home crowd of 4,450. Kinzie Hansen walked off Miami with a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh in the stadium opener, earning OU a 9-7 slugfest win.

OU closed the weekend with a 4-1 record, outscoring opponents 45-17 while batting .452 as a team. Jayda Coleman led the team with a .545 average across the five games, going 6-for-11, and Cydney Sanders drove in six to lead the club. The Sooners' weekend attendance mark hit 13,350 with a third-straight sellout on Sunday, establishing a new program record.

LAST TIME OUT

OU fell 7-5 to RV/RV Louisiana in eight innings on Sunday afternoon at Love's Field. The Sooners out-hit UL 11-10 but committed a season-high three errors in the loss.

Tiare Jennings (3-for-4, 2B, RBI) led the Sooner lineup with a three-hit game and moved into third on OU's all-time list in total bases. Kinzie Hansen (2-for-3, R, HR, 2 RBI) entered the program's top 10 for career RBIs with No. 189 and 190 coming on her two-run home run in the fourth, a shot that moved her into eighth in career long balls at OU.

A RECORD-BREAKING RUN

OU's NCAA-record winning streak was snapped at 71 games on Sunday, ending a truly historic run. The Sooners outscored opponents 578-72 for a plus-506 run differential over the 71-game stretch, earning wins over 42 different programs. The streak included 46 wins over Power Five opponents, 40 shutouts, 33 run-rule wins and 28 ranked wins.

ROARING TO A RESPONSE

Oklahoma hasn't lost back-to-back games since the 2020 season when it fell to Washington and Wisconsin Feb. 22-23 at the Mary Nutter. The Sooners have gone 203-9 (.957) since those back-to-back losses.

OU has outscored its opponents 90-17 in games immediately following its last nine losses, averaging 9.0 runs per game with six run-rule wins. Each of the last four games following a loss has resulted in a shutout, with the Sooners outscoring their opponents 47-0.

SCOUTING THE LIONS

Texas A&M Commerce enters the midweek with a 5-16 record, currently in the midst of an eight-game losing skid. The Lions were swept by Houston last weekend after being outscored 40-7.

Commerce head coach Brittany Miller is in her second season with the program following stints leading the pitching staffs at Texas Tech, Loyola Marymount, Iowa State and North Dakota State. A decorated pitcher at Iowa, Miller set the Hawkeye career marks in strikeouts (1,083), complete games (110), innings pitched (1,011.2), and games pitched (183), as well as the single-season strikeout mark (339) in 2009.

Sophomore utility player Diamond Sefe leads the Lion lineup with a .326/.404/.543 slash line for a .947 OPS, adding four doubles and two home runs for a club-best six extra-base hits. Freshman outfielder Tehya Pitts is the only other Commerce hitter to own an OPS north of .689, currently slashing .327/.353/.388 for a .741 OPS. Texas A&M Commerce has threatened teams on the basepaths, having gone 42-for-49 (85.7%) on stolen base attempts while nabbing two swipes per game. Freshman outfielder Ashlynn Griffith has stolen 10 bases this season while freshman utility Isabella Arzola has nine on 11 attempts each.

Maddie Muller (2-7, 5.38 ERA), Julia Sanchez (3-5, 4.86 ERA) and Anissa Arredondo (0-0, 3.73 ERA) have handled the lion's share of Commerce's innings in the circle.

LEADERBOARDS

The Sooners enter the week ranked highly across the national leaderboards in multiple statistical categories. OU is top-five in shutouts (11, 2nd), fielding percentage (.986, 3rd), home runs (33, 4th) and runs per game (8.16, 5th) while landing sixth in ERA (1.39).

Senior third baseman Alyssa Brito is currently third in the Big 12 in runs scored (23) and home runs (7) while ranking fourth with 25 hits. Senior shortstop Tiare Jennings enters the midweek third in doubles (6) and fourth in home runs (6) and RBIs (22). In the circle, senior right-hander Nicole May ranks third in batting average against (.170), fourth in wins (6) and eighth in ERA (1.50).

LET'S GO POLLING

The Sooners remained at No. 1 in the NFCA/USA Today coaches poll this week, earning 24 of the available 32 first-place votes. OU slid back one spot to No. 2 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll despite taking 13 of 25 first-place votes, standing one point behind Texas.

KIERSTON'S DEALING

Sophomore left-handed pitcher Kierston Deal has been terrific over her last three starts, winning each while logging 16.0 scoreless innings. The southpaw has allowed just seven hits while maintaining an 18:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio over her last three outings.

CHAMPS IN THE CLUTCH

Sooner seniors Alyssa Brito and Tiare Jennings have been extraordinary with runners in scoring position this season, powering a lineup that bats .406 with a 1.169 OPS in RISP situations.

Brito is 9-for-13 (.692) with runners in scoring position this spring, owning a 2.226 OPS with four extra-base hits (1 2B, 3 HR) and a 0:4 K:BB ratio. Jennings is batting .600 (12-for-20) with RISP, smashing four doubles and three home runs for seven extra-base hits and a 1.850 OPS.

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