Patty Gasso earns career win No. 1,500 as Sooners beat Knights, 2-1
With a 2-1 victory over the UCF Knights on Saturday afternoon, Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso became just the third softball coach in NCAA history to win 1,500 career games.
Gasso ranks third all-time with a 1,500-349-2 record, trailing only Michigan's Carol Hutchins (1,708 victories) and Arizona's Mike Candrea (1,674 victories) for the NCAA record.
It was a gritty performance for Gasso's Sooners, who made the most of just two hits on the day, both of which came in the fourth inning of a low-scoring affair.
Sooners' shortstop Tiare Jennings belted an 0-1 pitch over the left field wall to break a 0-0 tie in the fourth. Jennings' solo shot was the 90th of her career, and couldn't have come at a better time for OU on Saturday.
Two batters later, Kinzie Hansen drew a walk to get on base and was brought home on an RBI double from Ella Parker to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Knights wouldn't go down without a fight, though, as Sona Halajian hit an RBI double of her own in the final frame to pull the Knights within one score. Kierston Deal (W, 11-1) would slam the door on the comeback attempt by getting Sierra Humphreys to ground out and end the game.
This was a good, old fashioned, pitchers duel between Deal and UCF pitcher Sarah Willis, as the teams combined for just four hits on the afternoon.
Both Deal and Willis went a full seven innings and allowed two hits a piece. Deal finished the day with four strikeouts, one walk, and no earned runs and faced just four more than the minimum on 92 pitches.
Meanwhile, Willis (L, 8-8) had five Ks, four walks, two earned runs and faced 28 batters over 119 pitches.
The win gives Oklahoma the series heading into Sunday and improves them to 44-4 (20-3) on the year. UCF falls to 28-20 (10-13) on the year and will look to salvage the weekend in the series finale on Sunday (10:00 p.m. CT, ESPNU).
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