The Oklahoma Sooners ability to come through in clutch situations is something to marvel at. They’re never out of a game until the final out has been recorded. When Ella Parker’s blast to centerfield cleared the fence, Sooner Nation erupted while the rest of the softball world sighed in disbelief that the Sooners pulled off the incredible again.
But that doesn’t happen without a resilient pitching effort from Sam Landry.
Landry showed her mettle throughout Oklahoma’s 4-3 win over the Tennessee Volunteers. After allowing two earned runs in the first inning, she buckled down and held Tennessee to just one unearned run over the final six innings. Tennessee found ways to get on base, but Landry found ways to keep them from extending their 3-1 lead late in the game, thanks to some fantastic defense behind her.
Landry never let the game get away from the Sooners. If not for her efforts going toe-to-toe with SEC Pitcher of the Year Karlyn Pickens, the Sooners may not have a chance for Ella Parker’s magical moment in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Though head coach Patty Gasso and assistant coach Jennifer Rocha had conversations about making a change, Landry responded the right way throughout the game.
“Sam just was falling behind in counts, so we were talking a bit,” Gasso said. “But she kept getting outs. Started getting more groundball outs for us later in the game. Conversations with her is just steady. Steady. Stay steady. Stay with it. ‘How are you feeling?’ ‘Oh, I get so mad at myself.’ ‘Ok, bring it back. Bring it back.’ Again, pitchers don’t want to let down their team. It’s emotions. Pitchers deal with a lot. They deal with a lot of that emotion, high and lows. She gutted it out today.”
It was an emotional, pressure-packed game against a really good Tennessee Volunteers game that never took their foot off the gas. But Landry and the Oklahoma defense had an answer for everything the Vols threw at them over the final few innings.
“Not every pitch is going to go my way, but this team is amazing in everything they do,” Landry said after the game. “I trust them. I was telling Nelly (McEnroe-Marinas) before the game – she’s not in here – but I was just like ‘I just have a feeling about this game. Something is going to happen.’ Double plays. Ella’s hit. Two home runs. Just something about it. I knew if I stayed locked in, they were going to come around. I just kept them where I could.”
Landry’s efforts, with a lot of help from the defense, kept the game within striking distance for a Sooners offense that always has a chance to make something special happen until the final out is recorded. And it can’t be understated how important Thursday’s win was for the Sooners.
It allows them a day off before they play the Texas Longhorns in the winner’s bracket of the Women’s College World Series. It allows Landry a recovery day after throwing 139 pitches in her complete game effort. The road ahead is still a difficult one, but it would have been even more difficult with a loss.
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