Bedlam Softball: Sooners Take Care Of Cowgirls

Freshman Paige Parker was strong in the circle and at the plate as No. 5 Oklahoma (40-6, 12-1) took the first of three games in the Bedlam series with a 7-1 win Wednesday night over Oklahoma State (19-28, 3-10) in Stillwater.

Parker improved to 21-4 on the year as she struck out eight and gave up just one run and one hit in 5.0 innings. At the plate, she tied a career high with three hits, drove in a pair of runs and scored a run herself.

Junior Whitney Ellis hit a two-run homer, her second of the year, in a four-run third inning as OU won its 10th straight in the series. Senior Georgia Casey also had two RBI in the win, while Shelby Pendley collected two hits.

One home run shy of setting the all-time home run record, Lauren Chamberlain was 1-1 with two runs scored, three walks and a hit by pitch. Her single to right field hit near the top of the wall, missing the record-setting homer by roughly one foot. Chamberlain moved into 10th place in NCAA history in both career runs scored (256) and walks (192) after her performance.

Now 40-6 on the year, Oklahoma reached 40 wins in the third fewest games in program history. Only 2013 (40-3) and 2007 (40-4) saw the Sooners get there quicker.

Sitting at 12-1 in the Big 12 standings, Oklahoma owns a four game lead over second-place Baylor and Texas, which are both 6-3.