Isabela Emerling's grand slam helps OU softball to another SEC sweep

OU senior Isabela Emerling didn’t even wait for the ball to clear the wall. The second contact was made, the hands were up and the celebration was on.

A first-pitch, pinch-hit grand slam as the Sooners simply found a way. Not nearly as easy as the initial two games, but OU leaves Oxford with a sweep in a 5-2 victory on Monday night.

OU trailed 2-1 entering the top of the sixth inning. Some Ole Miss miscues combined with OU effort led to Emerling getting her moment.

It was Gabbie Garcia with a sac bunt, but the Rebels being surprised and not making the play. Kai Minor with a routine grounder to first base that was bobbled, and that was enough for Minor’s foot to get to the bag.

And then Emerling. With Allyssa Parker scheduled to hit, head coach Patty Gasso made the call and went with the senior.

OK, that worked.

It wasn’t the usual explosion from the OU offense, but it’s still another two-home run night. Freshman Kendall Wells hit her nation-leading 25th home run earlier in the game to cut the margin to 2-1.

It was a Sydney Berzon–Audrey Lowry combination getting the job done.

Berzon, in maybe her best start of the season, went 4.1 innings pitched and didn’t allow an earned run. The two runs were both unearned. A hard-luck no-decision on this night.

And then Lowry came in. She had to go through it in the bottom of the sixth. Some uncharacteristic OU defensive errors put bases loaded with one out.

Lowry earned back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat. She is 15-1 this season.

OU is now 32-2 overall, 6-0 in the SEC, and on a 21-game winning streak. The Sooners are at LSU for a three-game set this weekend (Friday-Sunday).

OU 14, Ole Miss 2 (5)

Sunday was all about Miali Guachino returning to Ole Miss, now pitching for OU. But the Sooners offense has this habit where they make lives a lot easier for their pitchers.

That happened again. Before Guachino even took the circle for the first time, she already had a four-run cushion.

A cushion that grew and grew, and Guachino cruised for OU.

The first inning saw Gabbie Garcia launch a two-run home run. And then Kai Minor added a solo bomb right after that.

OU hit another five home runs in the victory. Minor added another one later in the game, as did Kasidi Pickering with a two-run shot. Five of the eight hits left the yard.

The punctuation came from Abby Dayton, who hammered a grand slam in the fourth inning as OU scored four, two, two and six runs in the initial four frames.

Guachino was a freshman star for the Rebels in 2025, and it was her first game pitching against her former team.

She handled the moment just fine.

Guachino had five strikeouts in the four innings, allowing the one run. Sydney Berzon came in to close the show in the fifth, giving up one run.

OU 10, Ole Miss 0 (6) (Saturday)

Another SEC game, another SEC run-rule victory as OU went to Oxford to take down Ole Miss in six innings.

It is not just the impressive outing by pitcher Audrey Lowry. But as the game goes longer, the bats can wake up more.

Especially, right now, with freshman Kendall Wells. OU was only up 2-0 through four innings, and then Wells took over.

Two home runs, five RBIs in the fifth and sixth innings, and that’s all she wrote.

Wells now has 24 home runs this season. Ella Parker also went deep, ‘only’ No. 15 of the season for the junior.

It continues to be laughable what the OU offense is accomplishing. Here is the next number for you.

OU now has 122 home runs this season, after hitting 121 last season. There is still more than two months left in this season.

Even a 2-0 lead seems like a tough task because of how good Lowry has been. She went five scoreless innings to improve to 14-1.

Gasso went with freshman Allyssa Parker to close things out. A good spot to see what Parker could do. A 10-run advantage but up to her to keep the run-rule victory.

Parker struck out two in the sixth.