photo by: Brett Rojo/For The Big 12 Conference

The Kansas softball team greets Hailey Cripe at the plate following her home run against Houston on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City — Sophomore shortstop Hailey Cripe tied a Big 12 Conference record by driving in five runs, becoming just the fifth player to do so in the league’s softball tournament, and she led the Kansas softball team to a 6-5 win over Houston at Devon Park on Wednesday night.

Cripe hit a two-run home run in the first inning and then cleared the bases with a two-out double in the fourth. She had previously tallied just five RBIs combined in the 16 games since she knocked in six against Iowa State on April 5.

“She’s been grinding the last two days,” KU coach Jennifer McFalls said. “She just mishit a few balls last weekend that she was getting probably a little bit under them too much, but today she was on fire.”

Fittingly, she also caught the game-deciding popup with two outs, the bases loaded and Houston trailing by one run to end a last-ditch rally by the Cougars.

“I had total confidence that we were going to get out of that,” McFalls said. “We just needed to stay composed, get ground balls, keep the ball in the park, most importantly. And we did that, we did that. We made it a lot closer than it should have been.”

Between Cripe’s breakout showing on offense and a strong start by winning pitcher Kasey Hamilton (who struck out six Cougars), the seventh-seeded Jayhawks snapped a 10-game losing streak by knocking out the league’s last-place team.

“Coach told us today that today was a new season for us,” Cripe said. “We were starting 0-0. We had the opportunity to divine how it was going to go. Obviously, we’re 1-0 to start.”

McFalls said the team viewed the game as an “opportunity” rather than “a pressure situation.”

“We’re still in great shape, I think,” she said. “Yeah, we kind of put ourselves against the wall a little bit. They had a lot of fight and fire in the last two days of practice — we had a lot of good conversations in the last couple days.”

Presley Limbaugh went 3-for-4 for KU, while pitcher Shelby Smith was the only UH player with multiple hits.

As the Jayhawks continue to angle for postseason positioning, they will now face second-seeded Oklahoma, one of the most dominant programs in modern softball (though not to the same extent this season, with six losses) and a team that KU has not beaten in its last 22 attempts.

“Obviously OU’s a great team, but you know, they’re beatable, and they’ve been shown that this year,” McFalls said. “And we just got to keep playing Kansas softball. We’ve got to focus on us and not on them … We’ve had a heck of a last three weeks, it’s been a bit of a gantlet for us, and we’ve been in a lot of really, really close games even though we weren’t getting the results.

“So I think at the end of the day they have a lot of confidence going in to play tomorrow.”

Hamilton struck out a pair of batters in the first inning, and the Jayhawks’ offense got going with a two-out walk by newly minted all-conference selection Lyric Moore. Cripe promptly clubbed a home run over the fence in right-center field to give KU an early 2-0 advantage.

KU’s Olivia Bruno reached base on a bloop single and Campbell Bagshaw got a ball down the third-base line for another hit to continue the two-out rally, but Sara Roszak popped out to shortstop Brooke Lorenzo to end the threat.

Hamilton got into a bit more trouble when a single by Smith put runners at the corners with one out in the second inning. Designated player Katy Repa flew out in foul territory, and Aynslee Linduff made the throw to complete a double play at second base, but Bethany Aguilar was able to tag up from third and score before the inning concluded.

KU responded immediately, as Ashlyn Anderson tripled despite a diving attempt in the outfield and Angela Price brought her home with a sacrifice fly of her own.

Both offenses went fairly quiet until the Jayhawks got three singles and loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, setting up an opportunity for Moore. The catcher grounded into a fielder’s choice, but Cripe came through in the cleanup spot once again with a double to the wall that brought home three runs and pushed KU’s lead to 6-1.

“I’ve been in a bases-loaded situation a lot this year,” Cripe said, “and so I think it’s really just a mindset that all of my teammates know that I can do it, and I know that they’re behind me, so I know that I’m not up there alone, I know that I have 23 girls standing behind me when I’m up there.”

Houston got one back in the top of the sixth inning on another sacrifice fly, this time by Bree Cantu after a groundout was overruled by replay. However, Moore was able to catch Turiya Coleman stealing, before Hamilton earned her sixth strikeout, just the fifth time this season she has reached that number.

“Just ‘dominate’ was the kind of key word for me today,” Hamilton said. “Getting on top of batters and staying on top. And when I stay on top of batters, good things happen.”

KU missed a chance to extend its lead in the bottom half of the inning after getting two runners on with singles up the middle. Linduff bunted them over, but Moore grounded out and Price got caught on her way to home plate for a double play.

“We should have gotten a run out of that,” McFalls said, reflecting after the UH rally that followed soon after. “Again, you hate to put all that pressure on Kasey and on our defense, but most importantly, I’m proud of Lizzy (Ludwig) for coming in and helping us shut the door right there, get us those ground balls, and get us out of that inning.”

When Ludwig replaced Hamilton in the seventh, Lair Beautae had already hit a two-RBI single off Hamilton to put runners at the corners. Ludwig walked Jazmyn Rollin to load the bases again, then following a fielder’s choice that made it 6-5, KU committed a fielding error on what could have been a soft groundout, loading the bases for a third time.

Finally, Kennedy Thomas popped out to Cripe to end the threat.

First pitch between KU and OU is set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Devon Park.

photo by: Brett Rojo/For The Big 12 Conference

Kansas shortstop Hailey Cripe attempts a tag on Turiya Coleman of Houston on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Oklahoma City.

photo by: Brett Rojo/For The Big 12 Conference

Kansas coach Jennifer McFalls smiles during the game against Houston on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Oklahoma City.

photo by: Brett Rojo/For The Big 12 Conference

Kansas catcher Lyric Moore slides into second base against Houston on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Oklahoma City.

photo by: Brett Rojo/For The Big 12 Conference

Kansas shortstop Hailey Cripe rounds the bases against Houston on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Oklahoma City.

photo by: Brett Rojo/For The Big 12 Conference

Kansas first baseman Campbell Bagshaw tries to make a play during the game against Houston on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Oklahoma City.

photo by: Brett Rojo/For The Big 12 Conference

Kansas third baseman Ashlyn Anderson takes off running during the game against Houston on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Oklahoma City.

photo by: Brett Rojo/For The Big 12 Conference

Kansas third baseman Ashlyn Anderson celebrates following her triple against Houston on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Oklahoma City.