On Wednesday night in Oklahoma City, everything was as it should be for a couple of hours. The weather was perfect, the field was beautiful, and the Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowgirls were playing softball.
Bedlam softball isn’t what it used to be, as the Sooners and Cowgirls no longer share a conference. It had become the most anticipated conference series of the season in recent years, but now, the two programs will just have to settle for nonconference games, even if its a midweek tilt.
One thing certain, though. You just name a time and a place, and Oklahomans will come from all over to watch the two programs go at it.
On Wednesday night, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State set a new NCAA softball regular-season record for single-game attendance, with 9,259 people packed into Devon Park to see the second-ranked Sooners and 18th-ranked Pokes do battle.
The game appeared to be headed for chaos, too, as Oklahoma State jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning and extended it to a 3-0 game in the third.
From there on, however, it was all Sooners.
Kasidi Pickering got the rally started with a two-run shot on her 100th-career hit to make it 3-2 heading into the fourth. Then, Maya Bland, batting out of the nine-hole, blasted a three-run shot to make it 5-3 Sooners in the fourth.
OU would win the game 11-3, moving them to 35-3 on the season. The Sooners will hit the road to Tuscaloosa this weekend, where they’ll play a three-game series against No. 22 Alabama.
Meanwhile, the loss drops Oklahoma State to 23-12 on the season. The Cowgirls will regroup for a three-game series against Iowa State this weekend.
