Sooners run-rule BYU, 8-0

NORMAN – A gem from graduate left-hander Kelly Maxwell on her birthday coupled with three Sooner home runs led No. 2/1 Oklahoma Softball to an 8-0 run-rule victory over BYU on Thursday evening at Love’s Field.

Oklahoma (37-3, 14-2 Big 12) first baseman Cydney Sanders (1-for-2, BB, R, HR, 3 RBI) blasted a three-run “walk-off” home run in the fifth to punctuate the win over BYU (21-18, 4-12 Big 12), capping a terrific nine-hit, three-homer day from the OU lineup. The Sooners added a half-game to their conference lead as Oklahoma State was idle Thursday evening, improving to 1.5 games up on OSU.

Maxwell took a perfect game into the fifth while pitching on her birthday, winning her 12th game of the season with 5.0 shutout frames of one-hit ball. She struck out five and walked one, limiting a lineup that entered the game hitting .331 to go just 1-for-16 (.063) on the night. She induced 11 swinging strikes on 70 pitches for a 15.7% whiff rate while throwing strikes at a 68.6% clip (70/58).

The Sooners opened the scoring in the second on Jayda Coleman’s (2-for-3, R, HR, 3 RBI) 10th home run of the season, an opposite-field three-run shot belted into the left field bleachers. Coleman had previously extended her on-base streak to 27 games with a leadoff single in the first. Kasidi Pickering (2-for-3, R, HR, 2 RBI) blasted an opposite-field home run of her own an inning later, pushing Oklahoma’s advantage to 4-0 after three.

OU completed the run-rule win with a four spot in the fifth. Ella Parker (1-for-2, BB, R) and Kinzie Hansen (1-for-3) led off the frame with back-to-back singles, the latter base hit extending Hansen’s hitting streak to eight games. Pickering laced an RBI single into right, then Sanders launched the walk-off three-run shot out to deep left-center.

Coleman and Pickering each provided multi-hit games while Sanders, Parker and Alynah Torres (0-for-0, 2 BB, R) each reached base twice.

The shutout marks Oklahoma’s 18th of the season, Maxwell’s fourth, and the run-rule win stands as the club’s 22nd this spring. OU is now 7-0 in series openers, 10-1 against BYU all-time and has won nine straight games over the Cougars.