Oklahoma Wins Bedlam Series with Comeback Victory: “They’re Unafraid of Losing”

For most of Saturday afternoon, Oklahoma looked like a beaten team. But when it counted, the Sooners showed up.

Oklahoma dropped Oklahoma State by a 4-2 final score in Saturday’s game two of the Bedlam rivalry series.

A five-hit, four-run 7th-inning rally brought the Sooners from the brink of what would have been their second loss of the season and, instead, secured the series victory over their archrivals.

Held to just three hits through the first six innings, OU had no answer for Oklahoma State freshman Kyra Aycock. As the game went on, Aycock stayed effective and the Sooner bats stayed silent.

OSU’s 2-0 lead held through the initial six frames.

The latter third of the OU batting order was scheduled to hit in the seventh inning; the trio of Jocelyn Erickson, Alynah Torres, and Rylie Boone were just 1-6 on the day at that point. Even for a squad like Oklahoma, even for a team used to delivering in big moments, the situation came with no guarantees and no promises.

“We knew we were never out of this game,” Oklahoma second baseman Tiare Jennings said of the Sooner dugout entering the seventh inning. “No matter what the score was, no matter what the inning was. We just knew in the dugout that we were going to keep smiling, keep cheering, and keep having fun.”

“We went through a little bit of a lull, not adjusting as much as we wanted to,” Jennings added. “Definitely a little bit of a roller coaster, but we knew how to get out of it and that’s what makes us so great – it’s just knowing that ‘hey, right here, reset and just do whatever we can to get on base.’”

It was Jennings who stepped up to the plate with the tying and winning runs on base and it was Jennings who delivered in a clutch situation, knocking a two-run double off the left-center field wall to give the Sooners their first lead of the day.

That lead held.

“They’re unafraid of losing,” Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso said of her team after the game. “And that’s a big deal. They’re not going up in the seventh inning, ‘Oh my gosh, if we don’t score, we’re gonna lose’. No one is saying that. They’re doing everything right, they’re saying everything right.”

Gasso declined credit for her team’s poise in such moments, instead deflecting that praise to the players themselves. “It has absolutely nothing to do with me, except trying to keep them calm and keep them hungry,” said the Sooners’ head coach. “They respond and they don’t need it from me – they respond to each other. They have energy in the dugout. It’s a good thing; it’s really, really cool to be a part of.”

The Oklahoma State offense was better on Saturday, tagging OU starting pitcher Nicole May for eight hits and two runs. May exited the game in the bottom of the sixth after giving up the eighth hit, which also set a season-high for her in the category.

“It’s never over; we know that, so it’s not like we were unprepared,” OSU head coach Kenny Gajewski said after the game. “I love the way our team came out, two days in a row. Besides the losing, we look like the team that I know we can be.”

Oklahoma’s win marked the 31st victory over Oklahoma State in the last 33 meetings between the teams. The programs will meet for the last game of the Bedlam series, also the final game of the regular season for both teams, on Sunday at noon.

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