OU softball must pick up pieces after stunning Super Regionals loss to Mississippi State, 11-9

These sorts of things just do not happen to OU softball. Like, literally, it hadn’t happened in 26 years and 77 games.

But it happened Friday.

OU gave up five runs in the seventh inning and was stunned by visiting Mississippi State, 11-9, on Friday afternoon at Love’s Field in Game 1 of the Norman Super Regional.

The Bulldogs take a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-3. Game 2 is set for noon on Saturday on ESPN.

However, Game 1 is going to be talked about for a long time. OU was 77-0, yes, 77-0 when leading by four or more runs in a regional or Super Regional contest since 2000.

The Sooners were up 6-2 through four innings. The score remained that way heading into the top of the sixth when the Bulldogs offense exploded.

An offense that had only scored six runs or more once since April 19 put up four in the sixth and five in the seventh to put itself one win away from making its first-ever appearance in the Women’s College World Series.

“Our defense just—we don’t fumble balls like that (four errors). We don’t,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “We just don’t, but they were hitting the ball hard. There were some balls hit hard to Barker, some hard at Ailana, but we do make those plays, so our defense would tell you that this wasn’t their best day.

“I think our pitchers would tell you the same. This is who we are—we’re going to see who we are, and we’re ready to show who we are. We go down fighting, especially here at home, but anywhere. We understand what’s at stake, and we’re going to be ready to make this right.”

Even after MSU tied it at 6-6 in the sixth, that Sooner Magic felt like it was back in the form of freshman Kendall Wells.

Already with a two-run home run in the third (No. 38), Wells blasted No. 39 in the bottom of the sixth. It was good on good. Mississippi State brought in Peja Goold from the bullpen. And the first pitch Wells saw? Crushed.

The OU star finished 4-for-5 with two home runs and six RBIs. But the only time she got out? Was when OU had runners on first and second in the bottom of the seventh with one out.

Wells popped out, and Gabbie Garcia struck out, and the OU faithful were silenced.

“I felt super prepared today,” Wells said. “Coach JT gave us a good game plan. She just happened to beat me in my at-bat in the seventh. So I’ll get back into it tomorrow.”

Just a strange afternoon for all pitchers. Didn’t matter if you were Goold or fellow MSU star Alyssa Faircloth. Or if you were Miali Guachino or Audrey Lowry for the Sooners.

Gasso elected to go with Guachino in the circle to start. She gutted out three innings and gave two runs on five hits and three walks.

The turning point was when Gasso went to Lowry in the top of the sixth. Up 6-4, Lowry gave up the game-tying hit (officially charged to Sydney Berzon). And then in the seventh, just no answers and finishing with a final line of 1.1 innings, six hits, five runs (four earned) and two walks in falling to 22-4 this season.

You would full expect Goold vs. Lowry in the circle Saturday. But both, man, had some incredibly shaky moments to begin this Super Regional.

“I haven’t had a conversation with Coach Rocha yet, but we’ll have a very good gameplan, and pitchers understand what we want, and we’re going to execute that,” Gasso said.

OU raced out to its lead with a five-run third. Wells had the two-run shot. Two batters later, Isabela Emerling hit a two-run homer of her own. And then Kasidi Pickering went back-to-back. Both Pickering and Emerling now have 20 homers this season.

Up 5-1 at that point, but that aura of invincibility is gone. OU gave up a four-run lead at Texas A&M to begin the month. A five-run cushion was squandered in the SEC Tournament against Georgia.

This, though, was in Norman. At Love’s Field. That simply does not happen. OU knows what it has to do. The backs are officially up against the wall.

“You gotta give credit, absolutely, to Mississippi State,” Gasso said. “They just kept pushing and pushing us and pushing us. I thought we did a very good job against their pitching staff, so we got to see all the arms, so there is that, that we’re ready for. But it’s not anything unusual, it’s just one of those things that happens.

“But in life things don’t go well, what are you going to do about it? You either surrender or you step up and you say, ‘I’m going to make this right.’ And so we’re going to woman up and give the Sooner fans and our program everything we have.”