OU Softball: Oklahoma Kicking Off Championship Series With Texas as 'Underdogs'
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s road back to a fifth-straight Championship Series was no cakewalk.
The 2-seeded Sooners survived an old school pitcher’s duel on Saturday, outlasting UCLA 1-0 to reach the semifinals at the Women’s College World Series.
Then OU was dealt numerous body blows.
Florida trounced the Sooners on Monday before taking a commanding 5-2 lead after three innings on Tuesday.
But Oklahoma hasn’t won three straight titles by folding under pressure.
Cydney Sanders pulled OU within one run of the Gators with a two-run bomb.
Freshman Ella Parker, less than an hour after battling through a scary collision, leveled the game, and then superstar Jayda Coleman completed the comeback with a walk-off homer in the eighth inning at Devon Park.
“We knew we were going to fight from the gate,” OU shortstop Tiare Jennings said after Tuesday’s victory. “They came out and punched first. We came out and punched again.
“I think that was kind of punching back the entire game, just a dogfight. Just the presence of this team today was different all the way around. You could tell there was no press, there was no anxiety, there was no fear, there was nothing. … There's something different. These smiles, there's something different going on with the Sooners right now.”
By advancing to the Championship Series, Oklahoma’s slate has been wiped clean.
Wednesday’s contest won’t carry the threat of the season ending, but things are going to get much, much harder.
Waiting in the wings, fresh after enjoying an off day on Tuesday, are Mike White’s Texas Longhorns.
Earlier this season, Oklahoma’s bitter rivals dealt Patty Gasso’s program their first regular season series loss in over a decade.
OU jumped out in the series with a 5-2 win on April 6 before Texas scored consecutive 2-1 victories the following two days.
That wasn’t all for the two departing Big 12 powers.
A fourth Red River Rivalry was staged in the finals of the Big 12 Tournament, with OU exacting revenge and knocking off the Longhorns 5-1 on May 11.
Now, the two programs will battle for the biggest prize in the sport.
“We know each other very well,” Gasso said on Tuesday. “I don't know that there are a lot of secrets. It's going to be an absolute battle.”
Yes, Oklahoma and Texas play every year.
But Gasso and White have met numerous times at Devon Park itself over the last three years.
Oklahoma knocked off Texas in Oklahoma City in the 2023 Big 12 Tournament Championship, as well as taking a regular-season matchup with the Longhorns at Devon Park on March 31, 2023.
The year prior, OU and Texas met three times at the 2022 WCWS, including Oklahoma’s demolition of the burnt orange outfit in the Championship Series.
Still, the dynamics between the two teams are a bit different in 2024.
Not only did Texas win the regular season series, but the Longhorns are the top-seeded team in Oklahoma City and are still unbeaten at the 2024 WCWS.
The Sooners eked out a pair of one-run victories while dropping a game at Devon Park already, and have one day less rest.
“Kind of feel like we're the underdogs this year,” Gasso said. “That's okay. It's good for us. We had to really fight our way through here.
“I’m proud of this group and how they did it. We've got some really good momentum.”
Oklahoma is two games short of history.
If the Sooners repeat as champions, they’ll become the first Division I softball team to ever go back-to-back-to-back-to-back.
Five seniors — Jennings, Coleman, Kinzie Hansen, Rylie Boone and Nicole May — will have won national titles every single year an NCAA Tournament was played throughout their OU careers.
But none of that will matter to the Sooners come 7 p.m. on Wednesday when the first game of the Championship Series gets underway on ESPN.
Oklahoma has a new lease on life, and with the finish line within reach, OU is back to playing for one another.
“I don't think we're trying to prove any point here” Sooners ace Kelly Maxwell said. “This year has been hard. But we deserve to be here.
“… We're going to go out here and give it our all.”