OU pitcher Audrey Lowry goes into ‘boss’ mode, Sooners one win away from WCWS

OU softball season on the line, and everybody knew who head coach Patty Gasso was going to give the ball to in the circle.

However, you could not say for sure what type of performance Audrey Lowry was about to deliver. A 22-4 record entering Saturday was nice, but that final impression from Friday was brutal. Like next-level brutal.

The ace of the staff, and Lowry was roughed up.

That, though, was Friday. With the season on the line, Lowry delivered the goods. A gem of an outing that allowed the OU offense to rally behind her. And when those two complement each other that well, you get a dominating game like Saturday.

OU bounced back the only way it knows how in a 7-1 victory against visiting Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon in Game 2 of the Norman Super Regionals at Love’s Field.

The winner-take-all Game 3 between the teams is set for Sunday to see who is going to the Women’s College World Series. Time and TV designations have yet to be determined.

What was determined, or who in this case, was Lowry. It wasn’t the offense setting the tone, but the sophomore in the circle.

“Extremely efficient, extremely effective, very calm, very confident,” Gasso said. “I don’t know, just felt like we were rallying behind her because she had everything under control.”

Lowry threw just 47 pitches in the first five innings. She ended up throwing 87 pitches for the game, with 59 for strikes.

Let the defense make the plays, and they did. Lowry finished with her fourth complete game of the season, allowing five hits, one run and striking out two.

A far, far cry from her outing in relief in Game 1. Lowry couldn’t keep a 6-4 lead in the top of the sixth when she entered. And then, after Kendall Wells had hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth, Lowry fell apart in the seventh.

After all the dust settled, it was 1.1 innings with six hits, five runs (four earned) and two walks in the 11-9 defeat. That, funny enough, also took 47 pitches.

“It was really just next step,” Lowry told SoonerScoop. “Like, I forgot about yesterday, and I’m just working for today. Being present is really important, and Coach Rocha just said, ‘Be a boss.’ Just go up there and go for it and be present every pitch and just do your thing.”

With Lowry dealing, it was just going to take one or two runs to be enough against the Bulldogs. What OU got was a seven-run top of the third that let everybody know we’re coming back to Love’s on Sunday.

A little bit of small ball to take the 4-0 lead when Gasso made the decision that changed the game. With two runners on and two outs, she elected to have Lexi McDaniel pinch-hit for Sydney Barker. Gasso told SoonerScoop it was a matchup move and that McDaniel doesn’t shy away from the big moment.

Right move.

A whopping 266-feet later, and it was now 7-0. Mission accomplished.

“Just kind of going into it just trusting the process, trusting my own plan whenever I was going in,” McDaniel said. “But JT just kind of looked at me, he was like, ‘Just hit the ball.’ Just going in not really worrying about the outcome but just going in there with a strong plan and just focusing on what I can do in that moment.”

It is the fourth pinch-hit home run of the season for McDaniel. The OU freshman now has 11 round-trippers.

*Wells went 1-for-4, with an RBI single. She remains at 39 home runs, the second-most ever in a single season in NCAA history. UCLA’s Megan Grant, who walked every time she was up Friday, has 40 this season.

*The Sooners and Bulldogs do not know who they would face in the first game of the Women’s College World Series. Florida took down Texas Tech, 10-2, to even up that series Saturday. The two winners will meet Thursday at Devon Park.