Cowgirls beat Sooners again, clinch series

NORMAN– A five-run sixth inning propelled No. 4 Oklahoma State to a 6-2 softball victory over No. 2 Oklahoma Saturday at Love’s Field.

The win improves Cowgirls to 44-8 overall (21-5 in the Big 12). The loss drops the Sooners to 45-6 overall (21-5 in the Big 12). Oklahoma State will look to complete the sweep tomorrow at 3 p.m. Texas can clinch the Big 12 regular-season title when it faces Texas Tech today, however, should the Longhorns lose, the OU-OSU winner would earn a share of the title.

Kasidi Pickering opened the scoring for the Sooners in the fourth inning with an RBI single.

In the fifth, Caroline Wang’s team-leading 17th home run of the year tied the game 1-1.

OU re-claimed the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a walked-in run.

Claire Timm took Nicole May’s first pitch of the sixth inning and deposited it well over the right field fence to even the score and Micaela Wark made it back-to-back home runs to give the Cowgirls the lead with a shot to left three pitches later.

Wark’s blast led OU coach Patty Gasso to remove May from the game and replace her with Kelly Maxwell, who immediately hit Lexi McDonald with a pitch then committed a throwing error to move McDonald to third and Megan Bloodworth to second. Jilyen Poullard then ripped an opposite-field home run to left off Maxwell to blow the game open at 6-2.

Offensively, OSU was led by Poullard (1-for-4 with three RBIs), Wang (2-for-4 with an RBI) and Wark (1-for-3 with an RBI).

In the circle, Lexi Kilfoyl improved to 21-3 for the Cowgirls, going three innings in relief. Nicole May dropped to 12-2 for the Sooners.

Friday three home runs propelled the Cowgirls to a 6-3 victory over the Sooners. The win is Oklahoma State’s first victory in Norman since 1997, as well as the Cowgirls fifth victory over a top-10 opponent this season.

Oklahoma jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the first two innings on an infield single from Kasidi Pickering and a walked-in run.

Oklahoma State grabbed three runs over the next two frames on a two-run double from Karli Godwin and a solo home run from Micaela Wark.

In the fifth, the Cowgirls added three more runs on a solo shot from Jilyen Poullard and a two-run blast from Godwin.

The Sooners got a run back in the sixth inning on a Cowgirl error to make it a 6-3 game.

Offensively, OSU was led by Godwin (3-for-4 with four RBIs), Wark (2-for-3 with an RBI) and Poullard (1-for-3 with an RBI).

In the circle, Lexi Kilfoyl improved to 20-3 for the Cowgirls, going four innings in relief. Kelly Maxwell took the loss for the Sooners, dropping to 16-2.