OU softball run-rules Hofstra in NCAA Tournament opener, extends winning streak to 44 games
NORMAN — Grace Lyons and Kinzie Hansen are no strangers to the postseason.
The two have played key roles in OU’s postseason runs the last two seasons, helping the Sooners win back-to-back titles.
The quest for their third got off to a quick start for top-seeded OU, which beat Hofstra 11-0 in five innings in the opening game of the Norman Regional.
On a day when the wind whipped in from right field, Lyons managed to hit a towering home run early that carried just over the left-field wall while Hansen cut through the wind with a trio of line-drive hits to drive in four.
The Sooners (52-1) crept closer to the NCAA record winning streak of 47, winning their 44th consecutive game.
OU will take on Missouri at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Hofstra (29-26) will play California in an elimination game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
The win was the Sooners’ 14th consecutive in regionals and super regionals.
It’s hard to see that streak coming to an end this weekend at least with the way OU is playing.
“That’s the way you want to start,” Sooners coach Patty Gasso said.
Lyons has nine RBIs in her last four games.
“I think she just knows this might be her last time on the field for awhile,” Gasso said. “I don’t feel her pressing at all, just really wanting to go out on her terms.”
Then there was Jayda Coleman, another key piece of OU’s back-to-back championship teams.
Coleman narrowly missed what would’ve been a two-run homer in the second, flying out to the wall to straightaway center.
Two innings later, Coleman went slightly left of center to eek a ball over the wall for her team-leading 15th home run.
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"The game works in mysterious ways," Coleman said. “I felt like I completely crushed that first one and it went nowhere. And then I felt like I missed the second one and it just happened to go out.
“But that’s how the game is. And playing the wind here is important and knowing if it’s blowing in or blowing out and that kind of thing. But I’m glad the second one went out.”
Even without the bats putting a steady stream of runners across, OU was in control throughout.
Nicole May was dominant, allowing just one hit in four innings before Alex Storako finished things off by retiring the side in the fifth.
May (17-0) threw just 48 pitches, 34 for strikes.
“Nicole’s just always ready and waiting,” Gasso said. “So I had zero concerns about putting her on the mound today. Knew that she would start us the right way and she did. Very efficient — extremely efficient — with her pitching today.
"And that really gives your team a big boost behind her. You’re in and out. You’re not standing on the field for a long time with ball after ball. She’s just hammering the strike zone, inducing fly outs, getting strikeouts. So I can’t ask for anything more today.
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May’s even-keel demeanor helped her out in the third, when Alanna Morse led off with a double down the left-field line that just missed going out.
May quickly worked out of the jam with a strikeout, short fly to left and a groundout to end the threat.
It was the only baserunner the Pride had all day.
“I just feel like it doesn’t matter,” May said. “It’s like, ‘OK, get the next one.’ There’s no point in worrying that someone just got a hit.”
May dropped her team-leading ERA to 0.56 in the victory.
No first-round opponent has scored a run on the top overall seed since 2014.
Since the Sooners were upset by North Dakota State in the first game of the 2017 regional — their last regional loss — OU has outscored opponents 65-0 in the last five regional openers.
More: Can anyone stop OU softball early in NCAA Tournament? Meet Norman Regional opponents
Norman Regional
Friday's games
Game 1: No. 1 Oklahoma 11, Hofstra 0 (5)
Game 2: Missouri 5, California 1
Saturday, May 20
Game 3: Oklahoma vs. Missouri, 2 p.m.
Game 4: Hofstra vs. California, 4:30 p.m.
Game 5: G3 loser vs. G4 winner, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday's games
Game 6: G3 winner vs. G5 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 7: G6 winner vs. G6 loser (if necessary), 3:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball tops Hofstra in NCAA regional opener for 44th straight win
