One hit usually isn’t going to define a season, but you can tell just how different Cydney Sanders has been for Oklahoma softball since that one hit.
The Sooners were well on their way to a victory against visiting Texas three weeks ago, but it just meant a little bit more for Sanders to be able to deliver the final blow. An RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning to give OU a 10-2 run-rule victory and send everybody home.
It was her first RBI in two weeks and a 2-for-4 outing raised her batting average by 20 points. If UT was the start, then last weekend at Baylor in Waco was the high point.
Sanders hit two home runs and was one of the reasons No. 1-ranked OU swept the Bears (7-0, 4-0, 2-0) to improve to 42-1 overall and 12-0 in the Big 12.
That funk the Arizona State transfer was in during the first half of the season? It feels like it is officially gone.
“I would tell her anything I would tell anyone else, which is trust and believe what you’re doing and give it time. Just be patient through it, don’t quit, don’t go home and think about it, don't lose sleep over it,” said head coach Patty Gasso earlier this month. “It’s going to come. And it always does. But they want it now. There’s zero patience here. I want it now, I want it now, I want it now.
“It’s a good lesson for — I think she’s learned about patience and trusting herself and her abilities. I’m proud of her. There’s still work to do but I see her really breaking through this.”
Sanders got the 7-0 victory Friday going with a solo home run, but it was her shot Saturday that might have been the biggest of the weekend.
It was scoreless heading into the sixth. Kinzie Hansen had driven home a run with a triple, but it was still just 1-0 when Sanders hit a three-run shot to put some more separation.
So much was expected from Sanders, who was one of the best freshmen in the country last season at Arizona State.
For whatever reason, it just wasn’t clicking in the first two months of the season. Gasso wasn’t about to give up on her, though.
“It's just, internally, you start questioning, 'Am I good enough to be here? Am I good enough to be on the No. 1 team in the country? Am I good enough?' And the answer is, 'yes,' or you're telling me I'm a horrible recruiter, and I will not take that,” Gasso said. “So it's just fighting.
“It's fighting through it and not letting it overtake who you are and your demeanor, so Cyd is just figuring that out and it's just a great lesson to learn in life, is that when you're down, you're not out, so you just keep fighting until you can see the light.”
Sanders said earlier this month she felt like she has a new lease on life and is beginning to be that player she knows she can be and that OU wants her to be.
If Sanders can keep this up, it’s just one more weapon the Sooners will have at their disposal in a loaded lineup. Sanders has raised her average from .216 to .271. Three of her homers have occurred in the month and seven of her 17 RBIs.
* Sanders provided the punch, but it turned out OU was just going to need one run in each game to take down the Bears and avenge its only defeat of the season.
Jordy Bahl was on-point Friday, followed by Alex Storako in the first game Saturday and Nicole May closing it out in style in the second game.
Bahl struck out 10 in 5.2 innings pitched, allowing just three hits to move to 13-1. Storako relied on her defense, going 6.1 innings with four hits, three walks and two Ks.
May punctuated the weekend with a two-hit shutout.
* OU will finally return to Marita Hynes Field this weekend for a three-game set vs. Kansas. The Sooners were scheduled for back-to-back mini-road trips this week, but it’s hard to see either of them happening. Tuesday’s game at No. 23 Wichita State has been canceled, and the weather doesn’t look like it will be cooperating for OU’s trip to Tulsa on Wednesday.
