Notebook: Oklahoma softball's patience pays off
OKLAHOMA CITY – There’s no denying it was a struggle at times for Oklahoma softball to find its offense against Stanford.
There was also a method to the frustration, a silver lining. The Sooners were making freshman pitcher NiJaree Canady work. She was getting outs but that pitch count was getting out of control in a hurry.
OU was able to find just enough of an answer in earning a hard-fought 2-0 victory against the Cardinal to begin the Women’s College World Series on Thursday afternoon at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.
“I think those really long at-bats, even though we weren’t scoring, I think our team was still very motivated,” Jayda Coleman said. “We knew we were having good at-bats, and we were seeing balls.
“We like to celebrate the little things, so watching people go to a 13-pitch at-bat and watching them poke it through, it’s something we like to get excited about.”
Coleman and Tiare Jennings combined to make Canady throw 21 pitches as the first two batters for the Sooners.
Canady was at 52 pitches through two innings. She ended up at 99 pitches in just five frames.
“So we were talking about letting her pitch, do the work, just work to get to the ball,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “We were talking about trying to get on top of the ball. We were bringing all kinds of different ideas to this group, and they just kept trying, and they kept working.
“There was a small moment where they were getting frustrated, and you could see it. You know when you – again, where are our fans? We’ve got to do something in order for them to cheer. So just keep working.”
Coleman had the lone RBI, with a single in the fifth.
Oklahoma Takeaways
*Gasso was very quick to point out what Alynah Torres did for the team. Torres, a transfer making her first appearance in the WCWS, was the one to get the rally going in the fifth.
“She’s been waiting her lifetime for this, and she had two really good at-bats and one that helped us score, and that’s Alynah Torres.
“I think she was listening and taking messages. These guys were bringing it into the dugout and talking about how our posture should look like, what we should be looking for, there were times we were overswinging a bit.”
Torres’ single broke a string of nine in a row retired by Canady. It ended up being the only inning OU had multiple hits, and the only one that mattered. Jordy Bahl did the rest in the circle, pitching the complete game shutout.
*Entering the first-round WCWS matchup with a 56-1 record and a 48-game winning streak, Gasso said overconfidence wasn’t something she was worried about at all vs. Stanford.
“I will tell you there’s absolutely no overconfidence because this field of teams is loaded, and everybody who knows softball knows that,” Gasso said. I think we may have had one of the toughest matchups at the beginning of this World Series.
“It is going to pay dividends because of the fight, the fight they had all day. They’re always ready, always talking. They’re wanting to win, wanting to be great. They love doing it together. So nothing surprises me about this team.”
*OU (57-1) takes on Tennessee at 2 p.m. Saturday on ABC in a winner’s bracket matchup.
