COLLEGE February 10, 201
Oklahoma Rolls in Season Opener
TEMPE, Ariz. – The University of Oklahoma softball team opened the 2011 season Thursday evening with an 11-2 win over Cal State Bakersfield at the Kajikawa Classic. Oklahoma scored six runs in the second and five in the third to move to 14-3 in season openers under head coach Patty Gasso.
OU starter Keilani Ricketts got her first win of the year, pitching 3.2 innings and allowing just one walk while striking out three. Ricketts gave way to Allee Allen who pitched the final 1.1 innings. Allen gave up the Roadrunners’ only runs of the night.
The Sooners opened the flood gates with a leadoff double from Katie Norris in the second. Ricketts’ single up the middle scored runner Javen Henson and Ricketts then scored on a triple down the right field line by Brittany Williams. After a walk and stolen base from Dani Dobbs, Williams scored on a Chana’e Jones single. Jones tacked on another OU run to push the lead to 4-0. Brianna Turang then scored on Haley Nix’s first home run of the year, a blast to right center.
Oklahoma continued the barrage in the third. Henson walked to lead off the inning and advanced on Ricketts’ second single of the night. Pinch runner Cierra Hughes advanced to second to load the bases after Williams’ walk. Henson then scored after Dobbs reached on an error and Hughes and Williams scored on Jones’ double to right center. Dobbs crossed the plate on a groundout by Destinee Martinez and Jones scored on a wild pitch to put the Sooners up 11-0.
Bakersfield got on the board in the fifth with a two-run home run by Amy Ricciardi.
Ricketts got the win and finished 2-for-2 at the plate. Jones also went 2-for-2. Turang ended the night 2-for-3. Nix’s only hit of the night was the two-run shot. In addition to pitching, Allen recorded her first career collegiate at-bat, drawing a walk in the fourth inning. Every position player on the roster saw action in the contest.
Ricciardi’s home run was the only hit for the Roadrunners. Sarah Hoag picked up the loss in the circle, pitching 2.0 innings and allowing seven earned runs on seven hits.
Oklahoma continues play at the Kajikawa Classic Friday. The Sooners take on Appalachian State at 1 p.m. CT and Northwestern at 6 p.m. CT.
Sun Devils Run Rule Western Michigan
TEMPE, Ariz. The Sun Devil Softball team opened their 2011 campaign in style
Thursday night as Day One of the Kajikawa Classic kicked-off with a 17-0 (5) win
for the Sun Devils of the Western Michigan Broncos. A State was powered by
stellar pitching by Dallas Escobedo for her first collegiate win and a red-hot
offense that posted 17 runs off 12 hits to rocket them to a 1-0 start to the
season.
The first inning saw Escobedo come out all business on the Broncos, as she
struck out two to open the inning. One walk later Dallas closed out the inning
with a fly out to right to bring the ASU bats out of hibernation. Which is
exactly what they did as the Sun Devils exploded in the first inning, scoring 11
runs with two outs to their name with the highlight coming from Sam Parlich who
dug in on an 0-1 pitch with bases loaded to crush a grand slam in her first
at-bat on the season, tying her home run total from 2010.
Escobedo looked nearly untouchable in the first two at-bats of the second with
two quick outs until Myranda McDonald took a 1-2 pitch all the way to the top of
the center field wall for one of the longest singles in softball history.
Unphased, Escobedo struck out the next batter to keep WMU off the boards. The
ASU offense got back to work in the third putting four runs up on the Broncos
with a two RBI double from Lucy Aubrecht followed by a two RBI double from
Katelyn Boyd to make it 15-0 after three.
With Hillary Bach and Mackenize Popescue coming in as relief for Escobedo, the
Sun Devils put on cruise control as the defense kept WMU off the board while the
offense added two more in the fourth with RBIs from Christina Zambrana and
Bailey Wigness to finish it up with a 17-0 win for ASU.
Line Summary by Ultimate College Softball with SPY notes
Best Western Marina Grand Invitational–Corpus Christi, Texas
Texas A&M-CC 9 Loyola 1 (6 inn)
WP-Jordan Trujillo (1-0)
LP-Brittany Gardner (0-1)
HR: TAMUCC-Brittany Tucker 2-Run HR, Kacie Smith GS-HR
Cleveland State 3 Texas-Arlington 1
WP-Tess Sito (1-0) 11 K’s
LP-Teri Lyles (0-1)
Texas Classic–Austin, Texas
Texas 6 Louisville 2
WP-Blaire Luna (1-0) 13 K’s
LP-Tori Collins (0-1)
HR: UT-Taylor Hoagland Solo, Lexy Bennett Solo
UL-Maggie Ruckenbrod 2-Run HR
NOTE: Hoagland and Bennett Back-to-Back HR’s
Kajikawa Classic–Tempe, Ariz.
Oregon 3 BYU 2
WP-Jessica Moore (1-0) 12 K’s
LP-Paige Affleck (0-1)
HR’s UO-Jessica Moore 2-Run HR
Utah 10 Mississippi 0 (5 inn)
WP-Generra Nielson (1-0)
LP-Lindsey Perry (0-1)
North Texas 8 CS Bakersfield 4 (11 inn)
WP-Brittany Simmons (1-0)
LP-Sammy Rodriguez (0-1)
Nebraska 11 Portland State 2 (5 inn)
WP-Ashley Hagemann (1-0)
LP-Nichole Latham (0-1)
HR’s: NU-Tatum Edwards 3-Run HR
Oregon State 8 Appalachian State 0 (5 inn)
WP-Marina Demore (1-0) 4-IP 0-Hits 7 K’s
LP-Caitlin Wainright (0-1)
NOTE: Demore and Page Hall Combined No-Hitter
BYU 5 Texas Tech 5 Top 8th
NOTE: BYU-Delaney Willard 2-Run HR in Bottom of 7th
San Jose State 3 Mississippi 2
WP-Jennifer Ames (1-0)
LP-Kendall Bruning (0-1)
HR: SJSU-BranDee Garcia Solo
Oklahoma vs CS Bakersfield 6:30 PM (no score at 11pm ET)
Arizona 4 Indiana 0
WP-Kenzie Fowler (1-0) 3-Hitter 12 K’s
LP-Morgan Melloh (0-1) 12 K’s
Arizona State vs Western Michigan 7:00 PM (no score at 11pm ET)
Hawai’i Paradise Classic–Honolulu, Hawai’i
Texas State 3 UC-Davis 0 Top 5th
TSU-Chandler Hall
UCD-Jessica Thweatt
Hawai’i vs Southern Utah 6:00 PM
Others
UTEP 12 Northern Colorado 1 (5 inn)
WP-Joanna Krienitz (1-0)
LP-Kelli Henderson (0-1)
HR: UTEP-Courtney Ware 3-Run HR
UTEP 6 Northern Colorado 2
WP-Courtney Auger (1-0)
LP-Jaimie Juelfs (0-1)
Alcorn State vs Mercer 4/6 PM Macon, Ga. Cancelled
Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs Central Arkansas 3/5 PM Conway, Ark. Postponed–Rescheduled for March 1
Southeast Missouri vs Jackson State 4:00 PM Jackson, Miss. Cancelled
