Takeaways From Oklahoma's Fourth Battle Series Matchup

 Oklahoma softball held its fourth of five Battle Series on Friday at Love’s Field, with a bit of a Halloween theme.

The Sooners were broken up into three squads — the Shay Nightmares, Jessica Skulls and the Pumpkin Smashers.

The first two are references to Sooners’ greats Shay Knighten and Jessica Shults.

Even Patty Gasso’s statue at the entrance of the stadium was in costume.

The statue was adorned with a Wicked-inspired dress.

On a chilly Halloween night, several in the crowd of 966 were wearing costumes.

After the game, children in attendance — at least two dressed as Gasso complete with visor, ponytails and OU jacket — ran the bases and collected candy from OU players.

The Battle Series concludes Thursday, Nov. 6 at Love’s Field. That matchup is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Here are three quick takeaways from Friday’s matchup: 

Read More Oklahoma Softball

• Takeaways From Oklahoma's Third Battle Series Scrimmage
• Three Takeaways From Oklahoma Softball's Friday Battle Series
• Why Patty Gasso Believes Pitcher Sydney Berzon Will Fulfill Her Potential at Oklahoma

Isabela Emerling Ends it

Power had been hard to come by Friday.

With the weather turning toward the cooler side, the ball didn’t travel nearly as well as it had in earlier Battle Series matchups.

But three Sooners were able to put the ball out, the first two coming on line drives.

Then Isabela Emerling drove a towering no-doubt two-run shot out to left center with one out in the bottom of the fifth to give the Pumpkin Smashers a 5-3-2 win, breaking a tie with the Shay Nightmares.

The other two homers cut through the cool air.

In the bottom of the first, Ella Parker drove a home run into the batters’ eye bushes in center field.

Then in the bottom of the third, Ailana Agbayani, who started the final inning with a single and ultimately scored on Emerling’s home run, hit a liner into the left-field bleachers.

The Sooners combined for nine home runs in their most recent Battle Series matchup.

Freshman Kendal Wells was held without a home run for the first time this fall, but still put together several quality at-bats.

Wells finished 2 for 5 with a run.

Audrey Lowry Dominant

It took a bit for sophomore Audrey Lowry to make an appearance but Lowry was excellent when she did.

She allowed just one hit, walked none and struck out two in 2 2/3 innings.

Kierston Deal had a bit of a rough start to her night, coming on in relief of Sydney Berzon with one out in the bottom of the third.

After getting Ella Parker to fly out to left on a check swing, Deal gave up Agbayani’s home run.

But Deal bounced back well, retiring the side in order in her other two innings.

Defense Shows Off

While the power that had been evident all spring wasn’t around nearly as much, the Sooners made up for it with plenty of highlight defensive plays.

In the fifth, shortstop Agbayani stopped Wells’ hard grounder into the hole, spun and delivered the throw to first to retire the freshman as “”Girl on Fire” played over the stadium’s speakers.

In the bottom of the fourth, Agbayani was robbed on a hard liner at the wall in left field, then later in the inning Agbayani raced home to score on Emerling’s double just ahead of a bullet throw from center.

In the top of the second, after the Shay Nightmares loaded the bases with no outs and then Kasidi Pickering drew a walk to score a run, Chaney Helton delivered a hard single up the middle.

Kai Minor charged hard in center as Wells had to slam on the brakes rounding third to avoid being cut down at the plate.

Wells did dive back into third just ahead of the throw there.

It wasn’t the first time Wells was stopped by some great defense.

She led off the game with a hard hit to right center, but was held to a single after Kai Minor raced over to stop the ball from reaching the wall and quickly got the ball into the infield.