OU’s newcomers led the way for most of Tuesday. Freshmen Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering made key plays, and Oklahoma State transfer Kelly Maxwell recovered from a rough start to keep the Sooners in the Women’s College World Series semifinal elimination game. However, it was senior Jayda Coleman who delivered the game’s defining moment in the eighth inning. Coleman hit a leadoff home run off Keagan Rothrock’s 2-1 pitch, securing a 6-5 victory for the Sooners at Devon Park and advancing them to the WCWS Championship Series.
The Sooners (57-7) will take on Texas in the best-of-three series beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The game had plenty of drama, with the Sooners falling behind 2-0, 4-2 and 5-2 before mounting their comeback.
Maxwell settled in after a rough start where she allowed three home runs in the first three innings to give the Sooners’ offense a chance to work.
It wasn’t easy against Florida freshman Keagan Rothrock, who has become the Gators’ ace of late.
OU had an excellent chance in the seventh after Pickering belted a double to the base of the wall in right-center with one out.
The Gators walked Rylie Boone, though, and Rothrock struck out Cydney Sanders and got Avery Hodge to fly out to send the game to extra innings.
Here are three more quick takeaways from the win:
Leadoff walks hurt Kelly Maxwell, Sooners
Control has been an issue recently for Maxwell.
It was again Tuesday, as both of Maxwell’s two walks in the first two innings resulted in runs for the Gators.
Maxwell started the game by walking Skylar Wallace, then after a fielder’s choice, former Sooners Jocelyn Erickson belted a two-run home run.
Maxwell led off the second with a walk as well, as Maxwell missed on a 3-2 pitch. Ariel Kowalewski quickly followed with a home run to put Florida up 4-2.
Maxwell walked the leadoff in the sixth, with Ava Brown taking a 3-2 pitch just off the outside corner.
But this time, Florida couldn’t get a runner across.
When Parker got to second base, Florida shortstop Skylar Wallace was waiting.
Wallace’s elbow made contact with Parker’s face at second base and both players were sent writhing on the ground in pain.
After several minutes, Parker got up and left the field under her own power, smiling and laughing with teammates as Maya Bland replaced her as a pinch-runner.
Wallace remained in the game.
Wallace was called for obstruction on the play, though the ball bounced away after the collision anyway.
Umpires reviewed to see whether Wallace’s contact with Parker was malicious, but quickly ruled it was incidental.
Despite having a runner at second with no outs, the Sooners couldn’t push the tying run across.
Avery Hodge makes the most of chance
When Alynah Torres led Saturday’s game against UCLA with an injury, it looked like the lower part of the Sooners’ order could take a significant hit.
But Hodge came up big in the critical sixth inning, with a one-out double to left field and eventually came around to score the tying run on Parker’s single to center.
Hodge had a second-inning single as well.
It was just Hodge’s sixth extra-base hit of the season.
Prior to her double in Monday’s game, Hodge hadn’t had an extra-base hit since April 9 at Wichita State.
