Sooners complete Red River sweep with run rule

No. 1 Oklahoma finished the three-game sweep of No. 9/8 Texas with a 10-2 run-rule win in six innings Sunday.

Junior Tiare Jennings led the charge with a perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate with a home run and four runs batted in, while sophomore Cydney Sanders walked it off in run-rule fashion with an RBI double.

The series sweep marked the seventh time in the last eight seasons OU (331, 6-0) has swept Texas (30-8-1, 3-3) in conference play and the three wins on the weekend made it 30 wins over the Horns in the last 31 games.

For the third straight game Texas took the lead early only to eventually surrender it for good. At the top of the first, UT’s Mia Scott homered to right field on a solo shot, just the third round-tripper OU starter Nicole May has given up in 2023.

Oklahoma quickly tied the game at the bottom half of the first courtesy of a Kinzie Hansen groundout that allowed Jayda Coleman to race home.

In the second inning, Jennings continued her weekend tear against Texas with her second homer of the series, a three-run jack to right field to put OU up three.

The Sooners opened things up further in the third inning with five runs on four hits and two UT errors. Senior Alynah Torres reached on an error allowing junior Alyssa Brito to cross home prior to a Coleman RBI bunt single and Jennings run-scoring single. Haley Lee then blasted her eighth home run of the season on a shot to left field to plate two more and make it 9-1 OU through three.

Texas got a run back in the fourth via RBI single from Lou Gilbert to dodge the fifth inning run-rule but Sanders’ RBI double in the sixth ended things early and secured OU’s 25th straight win.

Jennings led OU with the 4-for-4 performance and finished the weekend 8-for-11 (.727) with two homers and eight RBIs. Three other Sooners registered multi-hit games with Lee, Sanders and Kinzie Hansen all recording two base hits.

In the circle, May went 5.1 innings to earn the win and move to an undefeated 10-0 on the season, striking out eight and giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks. Sophomore Jordy Bahl finished things with a scoreless frame in the sixth.

OU outscored its top-10 Red River rival 22-6 on the weekend and pushed its record against ranked opponents to 13-0 on the season, five of which were run-rule victories.

On the year, OU is outscoring the opposition 300-33 with 63 home runs and a nation-leading .390 team batting average. The pitching staff has surrendered just 29 earned runs while striking out 270 batters to go with an opponent batting average of .153.

The Sooners continue the home stand with a Big 12 series vs. Texas Tech, April 6-8, at Marita Hynes Field.