No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 7 Oklahoma State breezed past opponents in last week’s NCAA Softball Super Regionals and earned a spot in the upcoming Women’s College World Series.
Oklahoma (54-2) raced past Central Florida in Norman Saturday, 7-1.
The Sooners will face the Northwestern-Arizona State regional winner on Thursday at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City.
The No. 7 national seed Oklahoma State women’s softball team clinched a trip to the NCAA Women’s College World Series with a 5-1 win over 10th-seeded Clemson on Friday at Cowgirl Stadium in Stillwater in the NCAA Super Regional.
Oklahoma sweeps UCF
Oklahoma pitcher Hope Trautwein threw a no-hitter as they beat No. 16-seed UCF, 8-0, in five innings during the second round of the NCAA softball tournament in Norman Friday.
It was the first no-hitter against a nationally seeded team in super regional history (since 2005).
Trautwein gave up no hits and no runs. She struck out two batters and let four reach base – three walks and a hit-by-pitch.
It was Trautwein’s second solo no-hitter of the season and a program-record eighth overall for the Sooners.
Oklahoma’s Jocelyn Alo, the NCAA record-holder for career home runs, hit her 28th homer of the season, giving the team 134 total home runs, tying Arizona in 2009 for third-most all-time. Alo hit a homerun on her last at bat in her home stadium at OU Saturday.
The Sooners are going to the Women’s College World Series for the sixth consecutive season.
“Looking through our lineups, everybody in the lineup or close to it had something to do with the offense,” OU coach Patty Gasso said Saturday.
“They were clutching up and (gaining) explosive opportunities for us,” Gasso said. “And our defense continues to be so steady and solid.”
Record attendance at OSU
The OSU Cowgirls had a record attendance of 1,284 Friday and improved to 46-12 on the year.
Since the Super Regionals were added to the postseason in 2005, it is the first time in program history OSU reached the WCWS undefeated in postseason play.
Morgan Day (13-4) got the win, allowing five hits and one run. She recorded five strikeouts, putting her at 104 on the season.
She joined Kelly Maxwell and Miranda Elish as the only pitching staff in OSU history to have three pitchers with 100+ strikeouts.