Welcome back, OU softball
Welcome back, OU softball
The Sooners opened their 2022 campaign on Thursday. It did not go well for OU's first opponent.
✌🏽 Happy Friday, friends. Let’s ride.
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🥎 OU rolls in opener
Top-ranked Oklahoma softball started its 2022 campaign with a 14-0 victory over UC Santa Barbara in five innings on Thursday.
📊 Boxscore | 🎥 Highlights
✅ Need to know: A perfect game from its pitching staff and four home runs in five innings? Not a bad start for the defending champs. Tiare Jennings posted two home runs, including a leadoff bomb in the opening frame, to begin her sophomore season. Jocelyn Alo and Kinzie Hansen had the other two homers. The Sooners posted 14 hits, while Jordy Bahl, Nicole May and Hope Trautwein combined for a five-inning perfect game.
Bahl, the Sooners’ standout freshman pitcher that received the opening-day start, was exceptional in her OU debut. She struck out four of the eight batters she faced in 2 2/3 innings, while May and Trautwein combined to strike out another four and preserved the Sooners’ first perfect game since a combined effort on March 7, 2021, against Sam Houston.
🏆 Alo tracker: Fifth-year senior Jocelyn Alo hit a first-inning grand slam on Thursday for her 89th career home run. She needs six more to match Lauren Chamberlain’s NCAA career record of 95.
🗣 Quotable: Jordy Bahl on her debut, “I had a little bit of jitters at first, but they went away pretty quick when I turned around and just saw our defense and I remember I have nothing to worry about whatsoever but just go out there and do my job.”
🗓 Next up: The Sooners open the Mark Campbell Invitational with a Friday night doubleheader against Loyola Marymount (5:45 p.m. CT) and Mississippi State (8:30 p.m.). 📺 Watch on FloSoftball.com (subscription required).
🏈 ‘No-brainer’
Oklahoma will enter the 2022 season with Dillon Gabriel as its quarterback.
Following the mess Lincoln Riley left behind in Norman, Gabriel didn’t seem likely to swoop in and take the job when Caleb Williams’ future was still unclear. The former Central Florida quarterback was committed to UCLA, but plans changed quickly once Williams hit the transfer portal.
Gabriel discussed his move to OU on the latest episode of Jeremiah Hall and Brayden Willis’ The Podcast on the Prairie.
🎧 Where you can listen: Apple • Spotify
Don’t have the time? SoonerScoop.com’s Bob Przybylo put together a recap of the podcast episode.
One of the better quotes from Gabriel: “A spot opened up and I ran with it. I truly believe in Coach BV [Brent Venables], got to talk to him. Got to talk to Coach Leb [Jeff Lebby] and just felt like it was a no-brainer.”
📚 Read options
Former Oklahoma defensive tackle JaMarkus McFarland hired as TCU's defensive line coach (Read more at oudaily.com)
Oklahoma’s Chip Viney lands as assistant at San Jose State (Read more)
RB Tawee Walker ‘ain’t ever been to Oklahoma before,’ but jumped at the chance to play for DeMarco Murray (Read more at ouinsider.com)
How the Big 12 hopes to remain strong after OU and Texas depart (Read more at espn.com)
‘OU was a late blessing’: Sooners land Heritage Hall standout Gavin Freeman (Read more at si.com)
Caleb Williams on USC transfer, Oklahoma fans and removing Alabama from consideration (Read more at 247sports.com)