NORMAN — Oklahoma is one win away from clinching a spot in next weekend’s Super Regionals.
OU downed the California Golden Bears behind a pair of home runs by Kasidi Pickering.
Her first came in Oklahoma’s first at-bat of the afternoon, then she returned to hammer a grand slam in the fourth to essentially end Saturday’s contest.
The 2-seeded Sooners finished off the 11-2 run rule victory in the top of the fifth at Love’s Field.
“Tough game. Tough start,” OU coach Patty Gasso said after the win. “Liked how we came out, scored early and then started scoring often. They’re a tough team. They swing it well. They have a lot of pitching options and they’re just very athletic and you could feel their dynamic on that side.”
Oklahoma (47-7) gets to take the rest of the day off, while California (36-20) will have to battle out of the loser’s bracket on Saturday night.
Gasso started Sam Landry in the circle for the second straight day, but the big offensive day made things easy on OU’s pitching staff.
Still, Cal put up a good fight against Landry.
The Golden Bears totaled seven hits off the Oklahoma ace, but the right-hander was able to strand runners in each of the first four innings to ensure Cal couldn’t battle back into the game.
“I thought Sam did well. It doesn’t matter how many hits,” Gasso said. “It doesn’t matter as long as our runs are higher than theirs, and to just hold them to two runs is very, very good. So love that.”
Pickering needed just three pitches in the first to put the Sooners on top.
“(I’m) just trying to get comfortable leadoff and just knowing that my team doesn’t need me to come up and hit a home run every time,” Pickering said. “And today it worked out, it happened, but that’s not plan. They just need someone to come up there and execute the game plan.”
Cal immediately bounced back, however.
Left fielder Kaylee Pond bounced a home run off the foul pole in right field on the first pitch of the second inning to pull the Golden Bears back level with Oklahoma.
OU’s offense then plated four runs in the bottom of the second without an extra-base hit.
Cydney Sanders and Isabela Emerling put two aboard with walks and one out, then Cal starter Annabel Teperson hit Abby Dayton.
Oklahoma then got back-to-back-to-back singles from Pickering, Ella Parker and Sydney Barker, which each plated a run.
Barker’s single came off new Golden Bears pitcher Anna Reimers, then she plunked Gabbie Garcia to put OU up 5-1.
“Everybody loves home runs, but I love when you string them together,” Gasso said. “… I like when you have rallies going, you know. And then somebody executes.
“… Home runs can really change the game quickly and allow you to exhale a bit, but I love the way we came out and started to string some things together.”
Reimers finally battled back with a pair of strikeouts to end the threat, and her offense got back to work in the top of the third.
The Golden Bears tallied three straight singles, the last of which by Acacia Anders plated a run to cut OU’s lead to 5-2.
Landry hit Pond to load the bases, but the Sooners rung up a double play to limit the damage to the lone run.
Cal loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the fourth, but Anders bounced out to third and OU was able to keep its 5-2 lead intact.
Barker’s second walk of the afternoon quickly turned into a run in the bottom half of the inning after Garcia hit her 17th home run of the year, which leads the team.
After Garcia’s bomb, a walk, a hit batter and a single loaded things up for Pickering’s grand slam.
Freshman left-hander Audrey Lowry entered for Landry in the fifth, and she closed the game out in the circle.
The Sooners will now wait for the loser’s bracket to work itself out to find out their opponents for tomorrow’s regional final, which starts at 1 p.m.
Omaha and Boston University will battle in the day’s first elimination game at approximately 3:30 p.m., and the winner of that will turn around and immediately take on Cal.
Whoever emerges to take on Oklahoma in Sunday’s regional final will have to beat the Sooners twice to advance to next weekend’s Super Regionals.
One win for OU will push it through to next weekend’s festivities.
