Sooners' offense struggles as No. 4 Texas ties series with 2-1 victory

AUSTIN, Texas — Based on how the game started, it appeared Oklahoma was primed for a huge offensive day on Saturday.

Jayda Coleman got things started with a single to right field on the first pitch of the game. Then Kasidi Pickering followed it with a double, and Tiare Jennings hit a single that scored pinch runner Maya Bland to give the Sooners an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first.

However, that was the only run the Sooners put on the board.

The Sooners held onto that lead until the fourth inning, when back-to-back doubles from Viviana Martinez and Katie Stewart pushed the Longhorns' lead to 2-1. That score held going into the top of the seventh.

With one last opportunity, Kinzie Hansen finally got the Sooners on base with a two-out single up the middle. Rylie Boone then hit a double to right field, and Bland — pitch running for Hansen — sprinted to the plate for the tying run.

But Texas catcher Reese Atwood snagged it from the outfield just in time to tag Bland for the final out. That was the final play, as the Longhorns secured a 2-1 win at Red & Charline McCombs Field.

With the Sooners winning Friday's game 5-0, the winner of Sunday's game (1 p.m.) will decide the series.

Gasso asked for a challenge at the plate, contesting that Atwood obstructed Bland's path to the plate. But the call stood, putting the finishing touches on just the Sooners' second loss of the season.

:Great game. It was exciting for fans, exciting for TV, some good plays, great plays, on both sides," Gasso said. "The environment was fabulous and to be quite honest with you, I feel honored that teams are so excited when they bear us. It's just an honor to be honest. So Texas played fantastic, (Texas pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez was outstanding. We missed a few opportunities.

"Too many 1-2-3 innings that we had going on offensively and Texas had timely hitting. They did a lot of really good things right, good enough to win."

Gasso's right. The Sooners struggled with Gutierrez for much of the night. The offense finished with six hits but only recorded one between the second and sixth innings, and the Sooners were only walked once.

"Gutierrez had a great game," Hansen said. "She's a great pitcher. She did a great job spreading out timing with her little offspeed (pitches) and coming inside with that fastball, she did a great job. They called a great game pitch-calling wise. We didn't make adjustments fast enough, which is very uncharacteristic for our lineup so we definitely are reaping the consequences of that but I'm excited to see what it looks like going forward because whenever this does happen, our adjustments are much more efficient."

— Gasso on the final play at the plate and the decision to challenge it: "It's a tough call really. I have to challenge it but the catcher's going for the ball but we're also going for the plate, so who do you give it to? And once they review it, there's nothing I can do about it."

— That first inning, while giving the Sooners an early lead, also proved to be a missed opportunity. Pickering, who was at second base, didn't initially advance on Jennings' single despite their being two outs, and only made it to third base instead of making it home.

Gasso ushered Pickering home as soon as the ball was hit, but it proved to be a tough moment for the true freshman.

"(My) perspective is (it was a) freshman who froze," Gasso said. "There were two outs, she should be moving. We talked about it. And those are the wonderful things that we're experiencing is high-energy crowds, big moments, and these freshmen need to feel that, so that will never happen again but that did hurt us a bit."

— Nicole May earned the start in the circle.

She threw incredibly well to start the game, retiring 11 of her first 13 batters while allowing just one hit over the first three innings. But the Longhorns eventually broke through in the fourth inning, and May was pulled in favor of Kierston Deal.

Deal pitched just 0.1 innings before Paytn Monticelli was inserted. Monticelli faced just two batters before she was relieved by Karlie Keeney.

Deal has normally been the third-game starter for the Sooners in conference play. But now, it'll be interesting to see if Kelly Maxwell again earns the nod on Sunday.

Gasso on the pitching staff: "“Look, this was a great environment to put these pitchers in and see what they’re made of, and they’ll never forget it. Whether it went good, they’ll never forget it. And that’s what we need right now. We need this. You’re not gonna see us crying and in despair. We’re a team that bounces back really well, and we understood we needed to learn some things as a team in our responses to things that were not like Sooner-like. So we talked a little bit about that. We learned a lot, and we need that."

— The Sooners (35-2) will look to avoid their first conference series loss since 2011 at 1 p.m. Sunday on the Longhorn Network.