Sooners erased a shaky Friday outing with a strong performance…

The Sooners rebounded from a disappointing Friday effort by defeating the Cougars in Game 3 on Saturday.

Oklahoma returned to its winning ways on Saturday.

After a perplexing Friday performance against BYU, there was no dazzling six-run inning to kick off the series finale at Love’s Field.

Instead, OU applied consistent pressure, pushing away from the Cougars to win 7-3 and clinch the series.

Third baseman Alyssa Brito excelled for the Sooners, as her four RBI day paired with another strong performance from Kelly Maxwell to propel Oklahoma to victory.

The Sooners, still leading the Big 12, advanced to 38-4 overall and 15-3 in conference play, while BYU fell to 22-19 and 5-13.

OU coach Patty Gasso says her squad responded as she expected after Friday’s loss.

“Proud. “They were fighting,” Gasso explained after the game. “When things aren’t running well, it can be really frustrating. You could see some of that. A little more composure, greater attention, and fighting with two strikes worked well.

“…our plans were better.” We just talked about punching and fighting. I felt a lot better today.

Oklahoma took advantage of two BYU mistakes to establish an early lead on Saturday.

With Tiare Jennings on third and two outs, Kinzie Hansen went up to the plate, hoping to put Oklahoma ahead in the bottom of the first.

She popped the second pitch of the at-bat up behind the plate, but BYU catcher Hailey Morrow failed to follow the ball off the bat, allowing the inning to end with an out in foul area.

Hansen regrouped, and after fouling off another couple of pitches, she hit a ball to right field.

With second baseman Keila Kamoku charging the ball as well, right fielder Aleia Agbayanidropped the ball, putting the Cougars in an early 1-0 hole.

Maddie Udall corrected the error, tied the game at 1-1 with a solo home run in the second inning, but OU recovered in the third.

Jennings walked, Ella Parker was hit by a pitch, and an Alynah Torres single loaded the bases for Brito, who singled with two outs to give Oklahoma a 3-1 lead.

Rylie Boone’s leadoff walk proved ineffective in the fourth inning, but the Sooners sealed the win in the fifth.

Torres’ single turned Hansen’s leadoff double into a run, and Brito continued her strong performance.

Unconcerned about the whole count, Brito smashed a no-doubter, exciting the OU dugout and Love’s Field alike to put the Sooners up 6-1.

𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐎 💣

↓5 | OU 6, BYU 1#ChampionshipMindset | @alyss_33 pic.twitter.com/2Zszdy8SDj

— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) April 13, 2024

Brito attributed her Saturday triumph to making a minor modification from Friday.

“Today I really wanted to make adjustments as far as taking away the offspeed,” she went on to say. “I knew they were going to use that against me again and over. To be honest, all I wanted to do was dig in and find an elevated pitch to hit hard. Not attempting to press or do too much, but instead allowing things to unfold naturally.”

Oklahoma had an opportunity to end the game quickly after Brito’s home run.

Cydney Sanders, Jayda Coleman, and Jennings all got walks, leaving Parker with two outs and an opportunity to score a run-rule victory.

Parker didn’t force it, instead singled back to shortstop, extending the advantage to 7-1.

Hansen grounded out to end the inning, which moved the game to the sixth.

Maxwell navigated around a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning to keep the Cougars off the score, which was the first major hiccup in an otherwise impressive outing.

Brito went 3-for-4 at the plate, and Hansen doubled in the fifth inning to extend her team-leading hit streak to 10 games.

The Sooners will return to action early next week.

Oklahoma will face Tulsa Golden Hurricane at Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City on Tuesday at 6 p.m., in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN+ before next weekend’s Big 12 matchup versus Houston.