Tulsa Drops Game Against Top-Ranked Sooners

Wednesday, April 6

Norman, OK

6:00 PM

Tulsa

12-23-1

Oklahoma

33-0

Tulsa

Oklahoma

Tulsa Drops Game Against Top-Ranked Sooners

4/6/2022 8:51:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Gamebook (PDF) | Season Stats (PDF)

NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Tulsa softball team fell short against the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners 9-0 in front of a sold-out crowd of 1,700 at Marita Hynes Field on Wednesday evening.

The Golden Hurricane drops to 12-23-1, 1-4-1 in the American Athletic Conference heading into an eight-day break, while The Sooners stay perfect at 33-0, 3-0 in Big 12.

Tulsa was outhit 10-3 and both teams committed one error. The teams had to battle the elements as strong winds upward of 20 mph blew toward the infield throughout the evening. The Sooners came in leading the nation in home runs per game, hitting 2.59 a night, but were held without any hits leaving the park and only had one extra base-hit.

Instead, the Sooners deployed small ball techniques with nine singles, five sacrifices and five stolen bases. Eight different players had an RBI for OU. The Hurricane had two doubles, from Rylee Keith and Kylie Norwood, and Norwood finished with a pair of hits.

Samantha Pochop (7-11) started in the circle and pitched two and a third before Sara Llamas-Howell took over for the final 1.2 innings. Pochop allowed eight runs on eight hits, seven earned, and walked one. Llamas-Howell allowed one run on two hits and walked one.

OU's Nicole May improved to 10-0 with a complete game shutout. She allowed three hits and walked two while striking out six.

The Sooners scored in every inning starting with one in the first. Tulsa threatened in the second when Keith doubled with one out, but after getting bunted to third, a ground out left her stranded.

OU scored three in the second to go up 4-0. The Sooners got runners on the corner with nobody out and sacrificed in the first run. Another single with runners on second and third brought in the second run and the third run came in another sacrifice bunt.

The Hurricane had a great opportunity again in the third after an error put Kennedy Cramer on second with one out. Kylie Norwood singled up the middle, but Cramer had to wait to see if the ball got through and was forced to stop at third. A strikeout and pop-up to first halted Tulsa's chance.

The Sooners would add four in the third to blow the game open. TU struggled to get outs as a single, double and infield single brought in a run and put runners on the corner. An error on the next at-bat allowed another run to score to put OU up 6-0 with nobody out.

A ground out brought in the seventh run of the game and ended Pochop's night. Llamas-Howell's first batter hit a grounder and a throw came home, but the runner from third just slid under Keith's tag and OU increased its lead to 8-0.

After Tulsa went down in the fourth, the Sooners brought in another run on a sacrifice fly to give them the 9-0 lead they'd hold onto the rest of the way. Norwood doubled with two outs in the fifth to try to keep the game alive, but the third strikeout of the inning ended the game.

Tulsa has the weekend off from conference play and will return to action starting on Thursday, April 14 in Memphis, Tenn. First pitch in the opening game against the Memphis Tigers is set for 5 p.m. on ESPN+.