OU softball flexes muscles against Cal as Kasidi Pickering blasts two HRs in NCAA regional

Kasidi Pickering’s voice was a little hoarse at the postgame press conference Saturday.

The OU sophomore slugger had plenty to yell about during the second-seeded Sooners’ 11-2, five-inning win over Cal at Love’s Field, blasting a pair of home runs including a grand slam.

“Her hands are quick and her body is strong,” Sooners coach Patty Gasso said. “It looks … very simple. It does. It looks very easy but she definitely works on it.”

Pickering led off the bottom of the first with a 239-foot home run to left, then blasted a 228-foot grand slam to left center in the fourth to put the game in run-rule territory. The home runs were the 15th and 16th of the season for Pickering.

“Go in the weight room, eat a lot,” Pickering said of the secret behind her power. “I think JT (Gasso, OU’s hitting coach) tells us how to use every part of my body. So if I just need to use my hands and my legs are out from underneath me and I can hit a changeup on the front.

“There’s a lot of things that go into what JT teaches us to do.”

The Sooners (47-7) will take on either Cal or Omaha at 1 p.m. Sunday, needing one win to advance to a super regional for what would be the 15th consecutive season.

If OU falls in the first game, the teams would play another game to determine the regional champion.

The Sooners have now won 15 consecutive regional games.

Here are two more takeaways from the Sooners’ victory:

Sam Landry keeps OU’s pitching plan intact

For the first time all season, the Sooners started the same pitcher on back-to-back days, rolling out Sam Landry for the second time in the regional.

After going three innings in Friday’s win, Landry threw four innings in Saturday’s game before giving way to freshman Audrey Lowry, who retired the side or order in the fifth to end the game.

One of Landry’s biggest strengths this season has been her ability to field per position.

In the second inning, Landry quickly moved to her left to snag Mia Phillips’ slow bouncer up the middle which seemed destined for shortstop Gabbie Garcia. Instead of a close play at first, Landry made the play and her throw easily beat Phillips to the bag.

“If you’ve got a good fielding pitcher, you’ve got another infielder,” Gasso said. “That’s how I think of Sam — long and lanky arms, she can really reach things.”

The home runs from Pickering and the two-run shot by Garcia in the fourth get the attention, but the strength of OU’s offense really came through in the second inning.

That’s when OU loaded the bases with a pair of walks and a hit by pitch before the Sooners came through with back-to-back-to-back RBI singles. Garcia then was hit by a pitch to drive in another.

OU drew seven walks in the game.

“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. You walk and then you get a hit-and-run or you lay down a bunt or whatever the case is. It’s fin. 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.”

Pickering finished 3 for 3 with three runs and six RBIs while Garcia finished 1 for 2 with a run and three RBIs.

“Our game plan is to never come in and just hit a bunch of home runs,” Pickering said. “So I think to see us chip away, base hit after base hit, we get the bases loaded, we don’t need the grand slam to score runs. We can get by with two base hits so it’s fun.”