OU softball sweeps Texas Tech and Patty Gasso is 'more confident in Nicole May' than ever

NORMAN — Texas Tech came into the series with a vaunted lineup that was hitting more home runs than all but one team in the country.

Yes, even more than top-ranked OU.

But the Sooners' pitchers dominated the Red Raiders in a three-game sweep at Marita Hynes Field, which OU finished off with a 7-0 victory on Saturday.

The Sooners (36-1, 9-0 Big 12) outscored Texas Tech 16-0 in the series.

Saturday, it was Nicole May’s turn in the circle.

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The junior threw 5 ⅓ innings, striking out eight and allowing just two hits to improve to 11-0 and lower her team-leading ERA to 0.43.

May’s ERA is good for second-best nationally, behind only Stanford’s NiJaree Canady.

“I am more confident in Nicole May than I ever have been thus far,” Sooners coach Patty Gasso said. “I feel very, very comfortable — with all of them — but May has really kind of stepped into her own space and is really getting better with each outing.”

In the series, Sooners pitchers threw 21 innings and allowed just nine hits and three walks with 25 strikeouts.

Freshman Kierston Deal threw 1 ⅔ innings while Alex Storako, who was excellent in the series opener, finished things off in the seventh.

Here are four other takeaways from the win:

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Sooners’ dominance continues

As dominant as OU was, it was still much less dominant than recent series against the Red Raiders.

Over the previous two seasons, the Sooners had outscored Texas Tech by a combined 83-0.

OU has won 33 consecutive games against the Red Raiders and 11 consecutive series.

It was OU’s first Big 12 series against a team other than Oklahoma State to not feature at least one Sooners run rule since a three-game sweep of Texas in 2019.

Saturday’s victory extended OU’s winning streak to 28.

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Haley Lee goes out to all fields

In the bottom of the first, Haley Lee hit a no-doubt blast over the bleachers in right field.

It was a mirror image of the first-inning home run Lee hit in the first inning of Thursday’s series opener that went over the bleachers in left.

Two innings later, Lee made it a trifecta, this time a solo shot to center for her third home run of the series.

“She’s just made that way, built that way,” Gasso said. “She’s gotten really strong. Came here strong but has continued her training. … She has really found herself getting very comfortable. She is in her groove right now. I’m really excited about how she is going to help this team down the stretch.”

Lee’s two home runs tied her for the team lead at 11 with Jayda Coleman.

Over the last two weekends, Lee is 9 for 17 (.529) with eight RBIs and five home runs.

“She is probably one of the most comfortable players I’ve ever coached,” Gasso said. “Nothing affects her. She’ll talk it out to herself. She really speaks it out loud and affirms it out loud as if she, like, speaks it into existence.”

The Sooners came into the series one behind the Red Raiders with 63 home runs, but blew past Texas Tech with six home runs in the series.

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Defense keeps on coming up big

It looked like Texas Tech had finally broken through.

Alanna Barraza drove May’s offering deep into the left-center field gap.

But OU left fielder Rylie Boone drifted back to the wall, and snagged Barraza’s shot on a day where there was little wind to affect fly balls either way.

Boone fell to the warning track after making the catch, and grabbed her left shoulder as she stood up, but the ball remained firmly in her glove.

Boone’s catch drew a drawn out “Booooooone” chant from the sold-out crowd at Marita Hynes Field.

After an uncharacteristic weekend defensively against Texas, the Sooners settled down, remaining No. 1 nationally in fielding percentage with just one error in the three-game sweep.

OU has committed just 10 errors this season.

Gasso was particularly enthused about a catch Alynah Torres made at the wall in right field early in the game.

“She’s getting really good jumps,” Gasso said. “What she has done, which is fantastic, is, ‘I see I’m not working on the left side of the infield, but I need to get on this field,’ and embraced the opportunity. She’s been working her tail off.”

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Big matchup looms for OU at LSU

The Sooners get a break from Big 12 play next weekend, when they’ll instead play three games at the Miami (Ohio) Tournament.

Before that, though, they’ll travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on No. 12 LSU.

“Big,” Gasso said of the matchup with a future SEC rival. “Huge.

“If you’ve been there, and I have, I know what it feels like.”

Gasso said the Sooners’ success has become a double-edged sword as she tries to prepare her team for difficult environments.

Even when OU plays on the road, the Sooners often face a less-than-hostile atmosphere as fans shut out from seeing games at Marita Hynes Field take to the road to get a first-hand look.

“I want a hostile environment,” Gasso said. “I want us to feel like we’re the underdogs and everything we don’t do right is cheered and everything they do right is cheered. I just want them to feel a chaotic environment, a suffocating environment.

“Whatever we can take from it to learn from it is important because we’re walking into stadiums that are not our home stadiums and it’s a home crowd. It just kind of backfires on some growth at times.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU vs. Texas Tech softball: Sooners score sweep behind Nicole May