FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It looked like it might just be Arkansas' day on Sunday.
The Sooners went scoreless in the top of the first, and Arkansas logged two hits in the bottom of the frame. That included a three-run home run from Courtney Day off of Isabella Smith which gave the Razorbacks a 3-0 lead. Considering Arkansas scored 20 runs in last weekend's Game 3 against Ole Miss, the Sooners were in a considerable hole.
Instead, the Sooners had a quick response, and it was led by a pair of freshmen in Gabbie Garcia and Nelly McEnroe-Marinas
Garcia stepped to the plate in the top of the second and hit a leadoff solo home run. Hannah Coor sliced an RBI double that scored Abby Dayton. Then McEnroe-Marinas blasted a three-run home run that gave the Sooners a two-run lead.
Garcia, for good measure, came back to the plate and hit an RBI single. That gave the Sooners six unanswered runs in the frame, and flipped a 3-0 deficit into a 6-3 lead heading into the bottom of the second.
The Sooners had a response for every Arkansas run, as they did all weekend. Those responses were the reason the Sooners came away with an 10-7 win over Arkansas, completing the series sweep of the Razorbacks.
The Sooners won both games of Saturday's doubleheader, winning 7-0 in Game 1 and 6-4 in Game 2.
"We've heard, we know it's hard to get a sweep, especially on the road,” OU coach Patty Gasso said. “So do we go in and say, OK we're satisfied with two of three. So let's just go through this. It wasn;t that at all. They absolutely wanted to walk out with a sweep. We knew we would go in with a pitching plan of throwing them all out there. I don't know how much Sam had left, so we were trying to hang on and our offense did a good job of scoring runs for us. They answered their score almost every inning.
Garcia and McEnroe-Marinas — who have both become crucial parts of the offense — didn't slow down after the second inning. Garcia blasted a two-run home run in the fourth inning to give her two home runs on the day. McEnroe-Marinas hit an RBI double in the top of the fifth, which was followed by an RBI single from Ella Parker to give the Sooners a 10-5 lead heading to the bottom of the frame.
Garcia finished 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs and four RBIs. McEnroe-Marinas finished 2-for-5 with two runs and RBIs. The Sooners finished with 10 hits as a team.
Those hits were big considering Arkansas didn't slow down much, either. The Razorbacks responded to OU's six-run second inning with a two-run frame in the third, courtesy of a two-run bomb from Bri Ellis. Ellis followed that with another two-run bomb in the bottom of the fifth.
But Sam Landry — who played in every game this weekend — came in after Ellis' home run in the fifth and closed things down. She retired seven of the nine batters she faced, throwing five strikeouts while allowing just one walk and one hit.
With the sweep, the Sooners improve to 26-0 on the season and a perfect 6-0 in SEC play.
NOTES
— Garcia now leads the team with nine home runs. She's hit eight home runs in the last 10 games.
— McEnroe-Marinas' stats in the last eight games: 14-for-26, 14 RBIs, 15 runs, four home runs.
— Parker's RBI single in the fifth inning was her first official hit this season in conference play.
— With true freshman Audrey Lowry seemingly unavailable, the Sooners opted to start Smith in the circle. Smith was pulled after the first inning and replaced by Paytn Monticelli, who allowed one hit and zero runs with one strikeout in the second.
Kierston Deal came into the game in the third inning and pitched 2.2 innings, allowing three hits, four runs and two home runs before she was replaced by Landry.
— Gasso on Lowry’s status: “I think there's just a muscle strain that we're working on. It just doesn't make sense to do this, force her into something too early in this conference season. ... We need to get an X-ray here. I believe it's a muscle strain that's going to take a little time here to get situation.”
— Landry over the weekend: 11.1 innings, five hits, two walks, 10 strikeouts.
— Up next: The Sooners return home to host East Texas A&M for a midweek game at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (SECN+).
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