Heading into Tuesday’s mid-week matchup with Tulsa at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium , OU softball coach Patty Gasso gathered her team for a talk.
She wanted to get them refocused after a rough stretch by their standards, dropping three Big 12 games over a pair of series.
The mindset Gasso spoke of in that meeting came through in starting pitcher Kierston Deal in the matchup with the Golden Hurricane.
The sophomore threw six no-hit innings as the No. 2 Sooners beat Tulsa 8-0 in six innings in front of 4,908.
“Couldn’t get any better, really,” Gasso said of Deal. “Stellar. Very good. Exactly what we needed right now.”
Deal (9-1) hasn’t been used as a starter in the last two conference series, as Gasso has opted to pitch Kelly Maxwell in the third game against Texas and BYU instead of Deal.
While Maxwell has been excellent, so has Deal.
Over her last 10 starts, Deal is now 9-0 with a 0.49 ERA in 43 innings.
Deal brushed off having a different mindset starting vs. coming on in relief.
“Pound the strike zone, get ahead and win every pitch,” Deal said. “Take it pitch by pitch.”
The Sooners (39-4, 15-3 Big 12) resume Big 12 play beginning at 6 p.m. Friday with the first of a three-game series against Houston at Love’s Field.
Here are three other takeaways from the win:
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Tulsa’s Kailyn Bearpaw ripped a fly deep into the right field corner.
OU right fielder Rylie Boone raced into the corner and laid out for a diving catch.
The ball was close to the line, but whether or not it was fair, it helped move along Deal’s performance.
The only other serious challenge to Deal’s no-hitter came in the fifth, when third baseman Alyssa Brito dove to her left to snag Maci Cole’s liner.
“That was an amazing play,” Deal said. “And it’s crazy because she just acted like it was just a normal thing. … So just having those amazing athletes behind you and those players, I know I can just keep pounding the zone and they’re going to have my back.”
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Before she dug in for her sixth-inning at-bat, Cydney Sanders got a visit from Boone.
“Well, you can’t get walked so be ready,” Boone told Sanders.
Sanders was.
She bashed Anneca Anderson’s 1-0 pitch over the right-center field for a grand slam, her 13th home run of the season.
Getting pitches to hit has been an issue over the last two games.
She drew walks in each of her first two plate appearances Tuesday after drawing three walks in Saturday’s series finale vs. BYU.
“I think her for putting that also in my mind before going up,” Sanders said.
Sanders’ home run was the big hit in the sixth, when the Sooners scored five to end the game.
After Sanders’ home run, Boone walked, moved to second on a hit-by-pitch two batters later and then came around to score on Tiare Jennings’ walk-off hit.
For the OU players that have been with the team since the 2021 season — Rylie Boone, Kinzie Hansen, Nicole May, Tiare Jennings and Jayda Coleman — there is no shortage of experience playing at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.
Tuesday’s game was the 43rd in the stadium for the Sooners since the start of the 2021 season.
OU is 39-4 during that span — the only losses to Oklahoma State in the 2022 Big 12 Tournament, UCLA in that season’s Women’s College World Series and to James Madison and Florida State in the 2021 WCWS.
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OU softball live score updates vs. Tulsa
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Cydney Sanders hadn’t yet recorded an at-bat when she dug into the box in the bottom of the sixth.
Sanders had drawn walks in the second and fourth innings.
But Tulsa had to come right at Sanders in the sixth.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, Sanders drilled Anneca Anderson’s 1-0 pitch just over the wall in right-center for a grand slam.
The home run was Sanders’ 13th of the season.
The grand slam was set up by a walk, a Golden Hurricane’s error, and then Avery Hodge’s pinch-hit single.
Alyssa Brito reached out and sent a fly ball into short right field with one out in the third inning.
Tulsa right fielder Kailyn Bearpaw raced in and dove for the ball but it bounced past her, allowing Brito to keep racing around the bases.
Brito wound up at third for a triple — just the fourth of the season for the Sooners. Brito also had a triple Feb. 17 at McNeese State.
Tiare Jennings followed by drawing a walk before freshman Ella Parker put the first run on the board with a single.
Two batters later, Alynah Torres belted a two-run double to left-center to put the Sooners up 3-0 on Tulsa.
OU softball highlights vs. Tulsa
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What time does OU softball vs. Tulsa start?
- Date: Tuesday, April 16
- Time: 6 p.m. CT
- Where: USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, Oklahoma City
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What channel is OU softball vs. Tulsa on today?
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma softball run-rules Tulsa as Kierston Deal pitches no-hitter for Sooners
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