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OU softball drops Game 1 of Super Regional; Kendall Wells hits Nos. 38, 39

Bob Przybyloby: Bob Przybylo05/22/26BPrzybylo

It was all there for OU softball. The offense, going up against a great Mississippi State pitching staff, had done its job.

Freshman Kendall Wells added to her ridiculous season with two home runs and six RBIs. It was all there.

And then it wasn’t.

Mississippi State scored five runs in the top of the seventh to somehow come from behind and take down OU in Game 1 of the Norman Super Regional on Friday afternoon at Love’s Field.

OU head coach Patty Gasso did not go with ace Audrey Lowry in the circle to begin the game. But with OU up 6-4 in the sixth, she turned to the sophomore.

On this day, though, Lowry did not have it. She allowed the then-game-tying runs to make it 6-6. And then after Wells hit a monster three-run home run shot in the bottom of the sixth, Lowry could not close it out.

Lowry’s line? She went 1.1 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on six hits with two walks to fall to 22-4 this season.

Lowry was in a lot of familiar company Friday. No pitcher had a true command of the strike zone and no pitcher left Friday feeling like mission accomplished.

OU chased Mississippi State star pitcher Alyssa Faircloth out in less than three innings. Wells hit her first of the day, a 279-foot bomb, off Faircloth to get the scoring going. Isabela Emerling followed with a two-run shot, and Kasidi Pickering went back-to-back for a five-run third. Both Emerling and Pickering now have 20 home runs this season.

OU was up 6-2, following a Wells RBI single. And then the wheels fell off. For the third time in less than a month, OU has given up at least a four-run lead.

An absolute shocker in Norman. The first loss in the Super Regionals round for the Sooners since 2015 and the first one ever at Love’s Field.

Up next

Can OU (51-9) get the job done, turn it around? Game 2 of the Super Regional is set for noon on Saturday on ESPN. Expect Lowry to go up against MSU star pitcher Peja Goold. Both had to come in relief Friday, both had a lot of trouble getting the job done. See what they have in store Saturday.

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