A stiff north wind helped Texas A&M gain momentum on its march toward a Big 12 Conference championship Saturday.

Megan Gibson's bloop double led to a four-run first inning, and the fifth-ranked Aggies held on for a 4-2 victory over the ninth-ranked Sooners before 1,723 at the Aggie Softball Complex.

Jamie Hinshaw and Jami Lobpries made the Sooners pay for not catching Gibson's pop-up with a pair of two-run hits.

Meanwhile, Gibson improved to 24-0 with another solid pitching performance. She struck out 11 -- fanning at least one in each inning -- and gave up just four singles to a team with 131 extra-base hits.

Gibson walked three and hit two batters. Two of those walks helped Oklahoma score two runs in the sixth on Lindsey Vandever's one-out, bases-loaded single over the head of left fielder Kelsey Spittler.

But Gibson retired the next five hitters, giving the Aggies (38-7, 10-0 Big 12) a leg up on the Sooners (35-10, 8-1) in the weekend's two-game series.

The senior right-hander made good use of a nasty change-up for the second straight game. The pitch helped her strike out 12 in Wednesday's 3-1 victory at Texas. This is the first time in her career she's struck out at least 10 in back-to-back games.

"I'm just using it to keep hitters off-balance," Gibson said. "I think it's really doing a good job of that."

Gibson says catcher Erin Glasco decides when to mix in the change-up, and fellow All-American Amanda Scarborough lets Gibson know if they're using it too much.

Oklahoma left-hander D.J. Mathis (22-5) made a good pitch to Gibson in the first and thought she had her retired.

Gibson popped up to right-center field, but the stiff wind blowing in pushed the ball back toward the infield. It dropped 10 feet from second baseman Traci Dickenson, who was battling the sun trying to follow the ball. When the ball landed it bounced toward the foul line, allowing Gibson to reach second and pushing Macie Morrow to third. Morrow had singled and moved up on a sacrifice bunt.

"I thought I made pretty good contact but was out in front of it," Gibson said. "I think I just miss-hit it. I knew it had a really weird spin on it. I thought it was going up the middle, then I saw it float off to the side."

Hot-hitting Hinshaw followed with a two-run single, giving her a six-game hitting streak as the boisterous crowd for Parents Weekend roared its approval.

A&M wasn't done. Holly Ridley was hit by a pitch for the third time in four games, and Alex Reynolds walked to load the bases. Mathis retired Glasco, but Lobpries lined a shot over the third-base bag for a two-run double.

"She looked great in that at-bat," A&M head coach Jo Evans said. "She hit that ball hard. Their third baseman did a great job all day, but that ball was just hit too hard for her to make a play on."

A&M had chances to break the game open but left the bases loaded in the second and sixth. Morrow and Lobpries each had two hits. A&M finished with seven hits and was retired in order only once.

"We showed up ready to play," Evans said. "In that first inning, we were aggressive. I liked our approach. I liked our attitude."

While Oklahoma had a tough time catching a popup, A&M right fielder Ridley robbed Samantha Ricketts of extra bases. Ridley caught the ball just as she crashed into the fence to end the third inning.

Ridley, a converted shortstop, looked surprised to hold on. That prevented the runner possibly scoring from first, thwarting a potential big inning.

"Actually I didn't think it was going as far as it did when she hit it," Gibson said. "Holly just made a great play on it. She had a great jump."

A&M's defense also bailed out Gibson in the second.

Lindsey Vandever was hit by a pitch and Wendy Trott singled. But third baseman Hinshaw aggressively threw out Vandever at third base on Jessica Legendre's bunt. Glasco then picked off pinch-runner Iver McDonald when it appeared OU misfired on a hit-and-run.

NOTES -- Ridley was the 33rd batter Mathis has hit this season. ... It was the fifth-largest crowd in school history. ... OU's McDonald, a sophomore, is the sister of former A&M All-American Sharonda McDonald. ... A&M was 3 for 5 with runners in scoring position in the first inning against Mathis, who had held opponents to 8 for 111 this season with runners in scoring position before Saturday. ... A victory in Sunday's noon game would give A&M a 2 1/2-game lead with seven games left in the regular season. "We have the opportunity to separate ourselves from the pack," Evans said. "And we don't have to look for anyone else to help us. We can do that all by ourselves." ... A&M's players signed autographs afterward. The line of autograph seekers was about 200 feet long as they waited for the Aggies after the game.

• Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.