Mathis, Sooners silence Cowgirls

OU pitcher D.J. Mathis during the continuation of the Bedlam softball game between Oklahoma State...
LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

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She decided on a changeup, and after a two-and-a-half week rain delay she executed the pitch perfectly and struck out Kim to get the second out of the second inning at Tuesday's Bedlam makeup game. Mathis also struck out seven more batters as OU beat OSU 3-1.

"Everybody knew (Mathis) was throwing a changeup to that girl and she executed it great,” OU's Sam Ricketts said. "She told everyone before, ‘This is what's going on, guys.' And she did it. Everybody on the field just started laughing because we knew exactly what she wanted to do.”

OU had a 2-0 lead when the game was suspended because of weather. OU coach Patty Gasso said she didn't talk to her team about the score, she just spoke to them about getting back into the dugout as quickly as possible. Striking out Kim, and then OSU's next batter, she did just that.

"I loved the way D.J. came in and set the tone early on the mound,” Gasso said. "Then Sam coming up and doing her thing was clutch for us, we needed that.”

Ricketts' thing was a home run in the third inning that gave OU a 3-0 lead. Ricketts also got OU going back in the original meeting when she hit a two-RBI single up the middle in the first inning.

Gasso said that after a strong start she felt her team "got a little bit stagnant.”

"We need to do a little bit better job of clutch hits,” she said. "We're leaving too many runners in scoring position. We just need to clutch up a little bit better.”

OSU's Megan Castle hit an RBI single in the fourth to make the score 3-1, and the Cowgirls hit well late in the game but couldn't find a hole.

"You look at our last at-bats and they were just shots,” OSU coach Rich Wieligman said. "They just happened to go right to them.”

Wieligman said he chose to see Tuesday night's performance as a 1-1 tie. OSU has its chance at a rematch tonight when it travels to Norman for a 7 p.m. game.

"The key for tomorrow is we gotta get out of the first inning without giving up runs,” Wieligman said. "I think in two of the three losses we've given up multiple runs in the first inning. Maybe we can score early tomorrow and get ahead.”