NORMAN — Offensive fireworks had defined the first two games of the Sooners' series with South Carolina. But in Game 3, the Sooners needed to lock in defensively.

No Sam Landry, no problem. Audrey Lowry answered the call in the circle.

The true freshman stepped up in her first conference game appearance and kept South Carolina's elite offense out of rhythm. Lowry limited the Gamecocks to just three hits and one run while striking out two batters and walking just one. She retired the lineup in order in the first, third and six innings — a complete departure from what happened in the previous two games of the series.

Lowry pitched all seven innings and provided some much-needed stability, as the Sooners rode an unexpected defensive battle to a 2-1 win in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader.

The win completed the Sooners' series sweep of the Gamecocks. The Sooners beat South Carolina 10-9 in Friday's Game 1 and then won 10-9 in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader.

"The (first two games) were almost identical," OU coach Patty Gasso said. "It's back and forth, back and forth. And then I guess it turned out that Audrey was our secret weapon that we've been hiding. But it worked out really well because those others pitchers had been pressed pretty good. But it's really a good feeling to know that she can do that against a team like this."

The Sooners had operated at an unsustainable pace over the first two games, surrendering 21 hits, 18 runs and five home runs over the course of the first two games. But with Lowry in the circle the pieces fell back into place, which was particularly impressive as Landry — the Sooners' ace pitcher — was unavailable with an injury.

"I think I was just really motivated, just to kind of hold them back a little, because they were just taking lots and lots of swings," Lowry said. "So, I mean, I was just there for the other pitchers, picking them up during the first two games, and being in the bullpen and just really preparing."

That pitching proved critical as the Sooners' offense unexpectedly went cold, and that came despite a hot start. The Sooners scored two runs on back-to-back singles from Nelly McEnroe-Marinas and Gabbie Garcia which gave them an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

However, the offense dried up, as the Sooners logged just one hit after the first inning. It was quite the departure from the first two games, when OU combined for 20 hits, 20 runs and seven home runs.

"Am I surprised that there weren't fireworks in the second game? No," Gasso said. "Because I could see it on both sides. I could see the energy was starting to drain a little bit. So I'm just proud of our team for standing up and battling up and finding ways to win without the home-run bomb or things like that, and this one (points to Audrey) had a lot to do with it."

But those two early runs, and Lowry's superb pitching, proved to be enough for the Sooners to pull out the sweep over No. 10 South Carolina.

— McEnroe-Marinas, like the offense as a whole, was quiet in the third game. But she was superb the whole series, combining for six hits, four runs, seven RBIs and two home runs across the three games.

— Gasso said Landry's injury isn't expected to keep her out long term.

"She is going to be released and going to throw a bullpen tomorrow, going to throw to pitchers on Tuesday at practice and she is full go," Gasso said.

— The two runs in the first inning came on interesting sequences. Pickering reached on a fielder's choice, then somehow made her way from first to home on McEnroe-Marinas' single through some mistakes by the South Carolina defense.

"I was completely shocked," Gasso said. "I’m just standing there like, what are you doing? And I thought for sure she was going to get thrown out at home plate and I think if you see her reaction afterwards you know she was lucky to be safe. She was kind of embarrassed. It was kind of awkward."

— The Sooners did a good job of limiting top hitter Quincee Lilio, who led the country in on-base percentage and batting average coming into the weekend. She finished the weekend 2-of-12 at the plate with one run.

— With the win, the Sooners improve to 22-0 on the season and a perfect 3-0 in SEC play. Up next? The Sooners head to Arkansas for a three-game series next weekend.

Final word from Gasso: "I think legs looked heavy for both sides in that second game. But they pitch well, they play good defense. They're a good team. They are a top 10 team. And we had to do this without Sam Landry, and that's the beauty of all of this. And our hitters clutched up real timely, some good base running. We made a few mistakes here and there, and that's going to happen when you're really trying to make big plays. But really, really proud of this group, because we didn't know what it was going to feel like as a team, and it was pressed on us here at home, and we stepped up to the challenge."

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