No. 1 OU Softball Crushes Marist In First Game Of NCAA Tournament

The Oklahoma Sooners had no problems in their first game of the NCAA tournament Friday night, blowing out the Marist Red Foxes in five innings, 17-0.

The Sooners scored eight runs in both the first and third innings to cruise to the win, pounding out 13 hits in the process.

Keilani Ricketts and Michelle Gascoigne combined to limit Marist to just one hit. Gascoigne struck out five and walked two, while Ricketts struck out seven in three innings of work.

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The Sooners struck quickly in the first inning as Ricketts hit a bases-loaded double to put the Sooners up 3-0. After scoring two more runs, the Sooners put two runners on base for Lauren Chamberlain, who bashed her 26th homer of the season to give the Sooners an 8-0 lead.

OU tacked on a run in the second before exploding for eight more runs in the third.

The Sooners quickly loaded the bases on singels from Brianna Turang and Georgia Casey and a walk from Shelby Pendley. The next six batters either singled or walked, scoring a run each time. Chamberlain capped the inning with a two-run double off the wall in left field.

Oklahoma will take on Arkansas, which defeated Fordham in the first game of the regional, at 1 p.m. on Saturday.