Apr. 13—Oklahoma will celebrate its successes no matter the situation, but as Alyssa Brito rounded the bases on Saturday afternoon it clearly meant a little bit more than usual.Just a day after dropping their third conference game out of the last four, the Sooners were in another battle with BYU on Saturday up until the fifth inning. Kinzie Hansen led off the inning with a fly ball that dropped into shallow right field.Hansen hustled all the way to second and beat the tag for a leadoff double. Alynah Torres followed her up with an RBIsingle, paving the way for Brito’s two-run bomb two batters later.Now with a six-run lead, Brito didn’t trot around the bases, she ran, yelling and beating her chest as the sold-out crowd cheered her on. Brito led the team, going 3-4 at the plate with four RBI.The Sooners gave two runs back in the seventh, but a fourrun fifth inning ended up being the difference in a 7-3 win at Love’s Field.Oklahoma bounced back from a rare series loss last weekend to Texas, and a loss the night before to the Cougars, to go 2-1 over the weekend and stay in the top spot in the Big 12 standings. The Sooners will be back in action on Tuesday to host Tulsa at Hall of Fame Stadium at 6 p.m.Here are three takeaways from Oklahoma’s three games against BYU this weekend: 1. Looking for consistency — Starter Kelly Maxwell got her second start in the series on Saturday and came away with her second win.The Cougars finished with six hits in the series finale, but three of those came in the seventh inning with the Sooners leading by six runs. They hit a solo home run to take the lead in the second inning, but Maxwell went on to retire 11 of the next 12 batters she faced.Outside of two home runs, Maxwell gave the Cougars few opportunities and when she did, the defense had her back. In two games against the Cougars, Maxwell threw 12 innings, allowing seven hits, four earned runs and three walks with 11 strikeouts.Oklahoma’s four other pitchers combined to allow 11 hits, nine earned runs and five walks over seven innings. The Sooners’ pitching staff is struggling to find consistency and it gets worse when Maxwell isn’t in the circle.2. Needing more help — Oklahoma’s usual cast of stars have continued to ...
