OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – No. 8 Oklahoma tallied four unearned runs during the fourth inning after a leadoff error and emerged with a 5-0 victory over the LSU softball team Saturday at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium as part of The Preview hosted by USA Softball.
Oklahoma (12-3) also received a second shutout in as many days from All-American hurler Keilani Ricketts as the junior southpaw improved to 7-3 for the season. She gave up three hits and fanned 10 batters against two walks.
“We made some nice offensive adjustments against Ricketts,” head coach Beth Torina said. “Like I said yesterday, she could be the best pitcher we face all season. If we’re able to make adjustments against a pitcher like of that caliber, we’ll be able to make adjustments against other pitchers during the season.”
LSU (10-6) notched a trio of singles from A.J. Andrews, Ashley Langoni and Juliana Santos. Rachele Fico was dealt the loss and was touched five runs, one earned, on six hits. She garnered five strikeouts but issued five walks to drop to 5-2 on the season.
With one out in the third inning, the Tigers put pressure on Ricketts. Morgan Russell worked her way to a one-out walk and moved to second base on Andrews slap single through the middle. An Ashley Applegate ground ball advanced both runners to scoring position, but Cassie Trosclair struck out swinging to keep the game scoreless.
Ricketts reached on a Rikki Alcaraz fielding to start the Oklahoma fourth inning. Brittany Williams added a single to centerfield before pinch runner Callie Parsons crossed the plate for the game’s first run on a Lauren Chamberlain double off the left field with one out.
Two batters later, Katie Norris walked to load the bases. That set the stage for Javen Henson, who laced a bases-clearing double into the right centerfield gap to push the Sooner advantage to 4-0.
Oklahoma added an insurance run off a wild pitch during the sixth inning for the final margin of 5-0.
“We continue to allow one thing, one mistake to turn into a big inning,” Torina said. “We discussed it during our postgame talk. Of course, the errors are a problem. The response to the error is the bigger issue. Hopefully, that’s something we can fix in the future.”
LSU concludes it weekend in the Sooner State with a Sunday tilt at Oklahoma State. First pitch is slated for 12 p.m. from Cowgirl Diamond on the OSU campus.
Follow every pitch of LSU softball this season via live stats on www.LSUsports.net/livestats. Fans also can receive live in-game updates on LSU softball’s social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and @lsu_softball on Twitter.
“Without question, both teams have a lot on the line tomorrow,” Torina said. “Both teams want to finish the weekend out on a good note. We understand the gravity of the game. Hopefully, we can repeat what we did against them earlier today.”