CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. — As Friday’s second game of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic drew deep into the desert night, things were a bit uneasy for OU softball.

But as the Sooners gathered between innings late, Patty Gasso heard something different from her team.

“They just all decided, ‘We’re underachieving.’ And I started to hear them say it in the circle, which I had not heard for a while,” Gasso said. “They were very passionate about stepping up and not just get the lead but really attack.”

And attack the Sooners did.

Not long after Gasso heard those declarations from her team, a tie game turned into a run-rule as the Sooners hammered Wisconsin 10-2 in five innings thanks to an eight-run avalanche in the fourth.

Earlier Friday, OU beat Mississippi State 9-3 in a game the Sooners had to gut out early as well before turning the tide.

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There might not have been much in the way of flash, but OU stretched its winning streak to 64 games and kept right on rolling.

Gasso was disappointed in her team’s offensive performance last weekend in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

But starting with Friday’s first game, the Sooners’ bats came alive.

The Sooners had a season-high 12 hits against Mississippi State, twice battling back from deficits.

OU took the lead for good on one of the shortest sacrifice flies anyone will see.

Mississippi State centerfielder Sierra Sacco raced in to try to corral Jayda Coleman’s pop up to the back of the dirt behind second base.

Sacco made the play with a dive, but Avery Hodge was able to race home to put the Sooners up 4-2 just after Rylie Boone had tied it with an RBI double.

The Sooners continued to stretch the lead from there as OU’s pitching and defense settled down.

Here are three other takeaways from the Sooners’ opening day of the biggest regular-season event in college softball:

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Tiare Jennings climbs RBI chart

Tiare Jennings’ milestone RBI was a painful one.

Not for her, but for Mississippi State pitcher Delainey Edwards.

In the fifth inning of the opener, Jennings hit a rocket up the middle, off Everett’s leg. The ball bounced into short right field to allow Jayda Coleman to come home for what proved to be the game’s last run.

The RBI put Jennings solely in second on OU’s career RBI list with 255, passing Lauren Chamberlain.

Only Jocelyn Alo remains ahead of Jennings.

“I didn’t even know that but it’s such an honor,” Jennings said. “Lauren’s a big part of this program and she always will be. Just being able to be in the same name as her is an honor as well. Just representing this program with everything I can give for my last season is all I want to do.”

Jennings had tied Chamberlain earlier with an RBI double in the fourth.

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Patty Gasso stretches out Kelly Maxwell

While OU’s pitching staff had been dominant through their first nine games coming into Friday, the Sooners hadn’t stretched their pitchers much.

OU hadn’t had a pitcher throw more than five innings in a game.

That didn’t change Friday, technically at least, but Kelly Maxwell did get some extra work in.

Maxwell got the final four outs of the opener, then went right back to the circle to start the second game, throwing four innings before Karlie Keeney finished off the final inning.

“We pushed Kelly a little bit tonight. We needed to. We’ve got to get these guys ready for conference (play),” Gasso said. “They throw four innings and they’re done, that’s not going to work, so we kind of turned it a little upside down and had her close that game. We really didn’t need to, but still am very uncomfortable with their swings so really wanted to see her face some of those hitters and then get back up and start this one.

“She admits she was a little rusty doing that but it was good.”

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Eight-run fourth powers run-rule win over Wisconsin

Things were a bit uneasy again in the nightcap.

The Badgers had tied it up in the top of the fourth.

But like flipping a switch, the Sooners’ offense caught fire, scoring eight in the fourth — with the help of four Wisconsin errors.

The biggest run was the fourth of the game, as Gasso dialed up a double steal to try to get some breathing room.Hannah Coor looked like she was out easily at second — a sacrifice the Sooners were happy to make as Parker raced home.

But the breaks kept going OU’s way, as Coor was ruled safe due to obstruction and the avalanche continued.

Kasidi Pickering followed with an RBI double, Coleman drew a bases-loaded walk, Jennings hit another sacrifice fly.

Before long, the game went from being seriously in doubt to the Sooners being three outs away from a run-rule.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma softball beats Wisconsin, extends win streak to 64 games