May 7—There was little doubt what was motivating Oklahoma in Sunday’s Bedlam finale.

The Sooners had a chance to punctuate a Big 12 regular series title with the program’s third perfect season in conference play. Oklahoma State gave its Bedlam rivals all it could handle on Saturday, but it seemed its best opportunity to knock off the Sooners had just slipped through its grasp.

The Sooners seemed to confirm that on Sunday, as they broke open the scoring with a two-RBI double by Tiare Jennings in the third inning. With their first runs on the board, the Sooners were only just finding their stride at the plate.

They loaded up the bases in the fourth and had an opportunity to extend their lead with Jennings at the plate. The sophomore grounded out to end the inning, but the Sooners took advantage of their next opportunity in the fifth.

Once again the Sooners loaded the bases with two outs, and this time Alynah Torres drove the first pitch of the at-bat into left field to score two more runs.

The Sooners went to take the finale, 5-1, and secure a Bedlam road sweep.

“It’s incredibly hard to go through the Big 12 undefeated,” OU head coach Patty Gasso said. “It’s their goal but they don’t talk about it a lot. They just know what it takes day to day, the grind. A lot that goes with it. And not many teams do it. So it’s a big milestone for them. They’ll be in the record books. That means a lot to them.”

The win also extends their winning streak to 41 games, which ties an all-time program record. It’s the secondlongest winning streak in NCAA Division I history and six games shy of tying the record (47 by Arizona State in 1996-1997).

Alex Storako pitched all seven innings for the Sooners and allowed six hits, one earned run and two walks with four strikeouts. The Cowgirls threatened to take an early lead in the bottom of the second with a pair of singles to lead off the inning.

With one out on the board, Storako forced a pop up into shallow center field. Centerfielder Jayda Coleman dropped the routine pop up, but quickly threw it to Grace Lyons at second.

Lyons got the force out on the runner on first and gunned down the runner heading for third to complete the double play.

The Cowgirls got a pair of runners on base again in the fourth inning, but Storako struck out the final two batters to end the inning. The second strikeout gave the senior her 1,000th career strikeout, becoming the 99th pitcher in NCAA DI history to reach that mark Lyons hit a sacrifice fly ball to put the Sooners up 6-0 in the sixth inning. Oklahoma State responded in the bottom of the inning with a single and an RBI double Micaela Wark.

Lyons went two for three at the plate with three RBI and Torres went two for four with two RBI. The Sooners finished with seven hits and left nine runners on base.

The Cowgirls came away with six hits and had a pair of costly errors.

The Sooners closed out Big 12 play allowing just 17 runs in 18 games this season. They now turn their attention to the Big 12 tournament next weekend in Oklahoma City.

As the top seed, the Sooners will await the winner of No. 4 Baylor and No. 5 Iowa State on Friday at 1 p.m.