OU Wins 10th Straight Big 12 Title, Clinches Bedlam Series

No. 1 Oklahoma won its 10th consecutive Big 12 regular season title on Friday with a 6-0 win over No. 7 Oklahoma State. 

The program has won a conference-best 14 Big 12 regular season championships and 21 in total including tournament crowns, all under head coach Patty Gasso. 

"Really proud of this team," said head coach Patty Gasso. "It was nice to do it (win the title) in front of our home crowd. Thought we played really well both games, timely hitting, different stars each game. 

"Just really proud. This is hard to do. We don't talk about it, but it's a grind. To continue this run is phenomenal. Our coaches have been outstanding, support staff through the roof. It's an all-in buy in from everybody and here we are right now.

The Sooners (47-1, 16-1) were firing on all cylinders on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 1,805. 

Redshirt senior Hope Trautwein shut down the Cowgirl (38-11, 14-3) offense on the night in her 5.1 innings pitched, allowing just three hits and three walks to go with four strikeouts and no runs allowed. Freshman Jordy Bahl entered in the sixth and closed the final 1.2 innings with no hits or runs and a pair of K's. It was OU's nation-best 28th shutout of the season. 

At the plate, after a pair of scoreless innings, Oklahoma poured in five runs on three hits in the third inning to break the game open. 

After a walk to sophomore Jayda Coleman, reigning national player of the year Jocelyn Alo laced a single to right and advanced to second on the throw to put two on with one out. Sophomore Alyssa Brito then ripped an RBI single to left to plate Coleman before an 11-pitch bases-loaded walk to super senior Jana Johns plated Alo.

The next at-bat, junior Kinzie Hansen stepped up with a three-RBI double to center field. It was Hansen's first hit since a home run on April 16 at Texas. 

A rocket of a throw from Rylie Boone in right field and tag applied at home by Hansen highlighted the top of the fifth inning as Trautwein finished a stretch of retiring 11 straight from the second to fifth innings.

In the bottom of the fifth, Grace Lyons hit her 18th home run of the season, a leadoff blast on the first pitch of the frame, to close the game's scoring. 

Bahl relieved Trautwein after one out in the sixth and retired five of the final seven OSU batters to clinch the Sooners the conference crown. Trautwein collected the win to move to a perfect 14-0 on the year, while OSU's Morgan Day moved to 9-4, allowing six runs (all earned) on seven hits to go with three walks and four strikeouts. 

Five Sooners registered a hit in the game led by Brito's 2-for-3 and Alo's 2-for-4 performances. Four Sooners brought in a run, paced by Hansen's three. 

The teams meet for the Bedlam finale on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Norman. The game can be seen on ESPNU and heard on 107.7 The Franchise in Oklahoma and nationwide on The Varsity app. 

For updates and more information on Oklahoma softball, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_Softball) and like Oklahoma Softball on Facebook.