Sam and Ella. The two names go together like peanut butter and jelly.
A fun coincidence, then, that Oklahoma pitcher Sam Landry and Sooners designated player Ella Parker were the two OU softball players named to the Women’s College World Series All-Tournament team over the weekend.
Oklahoma fell in the WCWS to eventual runner-up Texas Tech in the penultimate series of the tourney, carried there in large part by its ace pitcher and its best hitter.
Parker went 7 for 17 in Oklahoma City with two home runs and four RBI. Her three-run walk-off homer in the Sooners’ first WCWS game against Tennessee kept OU in the winner’s bracket, eventually leading to an elimination of Oregon.
Landry pitched in all four of Oklahoma’s games in the tournament. She allowed seven runs over 24 innings while striking out 16 batters. In her 4 1/3 innings of relief against the Ducks, she gave up just three base-runners as the Sooners rallied to win.
Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso expects to get Parker, a rising junior, back for another year in Norman, though Landry was selected No. 1 overall in the inaugural Athletes Unlimited Softball League draft. She signed a couple days after the Sooners were eliminated from the tournament.
