After a rocky start, the Oklahoma softball team opened its home schedule with a bang Friday at Marita Hynes Field.
Make that two bangs.
The No. 12 Sooners (6-0) received grand slams from Stacia Aleman and Samantha Ricketts as they run-ruled Birmingham-Southern 14-1 in five innings.
OU scored seven runs in the second and fourth innings while piling up 11 hits.
Lauren Eckermann picked up her fifth victory of the season for the Sooners, allowing one run on four hits over four innings.
“Our offense got hot today,” OU coach Patty Gasso said. “I thought we had great at-bats all the way down the lineup.”
But it didn’t start out that way for the Sooners.
Panthers starter Bethney Reynoldson kept OU hitters handcuffed in the first inning, and Eckermann’s fifth start as a Sooner didn’t look anything like her first three.
Birmingham-Southern touched home first. Blaes Schmissrauter and Brooke Reed hit back-to-back one-out singles in the top of the first inning.
Eckermann looked like she might get out of trouble, striking out Heather Fox, but Melissa Taunton doubled, bringing Schmissrauter home and shocking the Sooner faithful who braved the cold weather to watch bundled up in the stands.
But the Panthers’ lead wouldn’t last long.
Mariee Mena opened the floodgates for the Sooners in the bottom of the second inning.
Her single started an OU rally that saw the Sooners bat around the lineup and bring home seven runs.
Traci Dickenson brought home OU’s first run on an error by Birmingham Southern shortstop Brooke Reed. Norrelle Dickson followed with a run-scoring single, and Amber Flores’ infield single plated another run. That brought up Ricketts, who lined into the right-field bleachers, putting OU up 7-1.
“We started off slow, but Mariee Mena got us going in the second with her single and our offense took off from there,” Gasso said. “Our offense, combined with our defense, which owns a great .993 fielding average, has really been a great combination for us and I’m really pleased with the way we played today.”
In the fourth inning, the Sooner bats got loud again. Dickson led off with a walk, Flores added another infield single, and Ricketts brought both in on an RBI double. Mena brought her home two batters later and OU was up 10-1.
Savannah Long singled to center to load the bases up for Aleman, who put her home run over the left-field fence.
Eckermann was replaced by Jadyn Smith in the fifth inning. The junior struck out one and retired the side in order.
The Sooners are back in action today at 1:30 p.m. against Northwestern State and 3:30 p.m. against Minnesota.
Jeff Johncox366-3535jjohncox@normantranscript.com
Local Sports
February 17, 2007
Grand opening
Sooners hit two slams
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