The Sooners officially capped the most dominant four-year stretch in Division I history Thursday night with an 8-4 win over rival Texas in the Women’s College World Series.
The clinching score came in Game 2 of the best-of-three championship series in front of a crazy crowd of 12,324 at Devon Park.
OU has now won eight national crowns all-time and six of the last eight.
For good measure, the Sooners have now beaten Texas 33 times in their last 36 meetings and are 6-0 against the Longhorns in the WCWS.
For those in the OU party that captured their fourth straight national title, this year’s championship ring was undoubtedly the most fitting.
After going 61-1 on the magic carpet last season, this year’s journey has been even more difficult.
Even though the old people left Tiare Jennings, Jayda Coleman, Kinsey Hansen, Riley Boone And Nicole May They have never lost their final game in any season, and doubters came from all directions in 2024 — including within the state’s borders.
“We battled all season,” Hansen said. “Everyone had something to say about us all the time. People were counting us out. It was just mental and physical agony. We battled all year. It was all worth it in that moment.”
“Honestly, the whole season was tough,” Coleman added. “As we progressed, if we lost one or two games, or lost to Texas, everyone had an opinion about us. It was frustrating just seeing everyone on Twitter, TikTok hoping for anyone. We didn’t change that.” It happens, so…”
Coach Patty Jasso She admitted that the degree of difficulty was too high for her sooner.
“People say: ‘Let’s win one.’ You’re like, “Okay.” “It’s not like that, it’s very difficult,” Jasso said.
“Everything has to go well. The thing about them is that they are resilient. They have a lot of pride in that. However, it is difficult for me to understand. I would still say that was the hardest thing to deal with.
“It hasn’t been easy this season. I hear them (my players) and I agree with them. This is probably the hardest training season I’ve had in a while because of a lot of naysayers, a lot of…” I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain how heavy the head wearing the crown was, the only thing that seemed real.
In terms of pitching, Thursday’s title game was uncharacteristically chaotic. OU (59-7) and Texas (55-10) were drafted by the committee, combining to use eight pitchers.
In their first 17 outs, the Sooners sent four shooters to the circle.
Right-hander Carly Kenny Initiated, he was relieved by oath Payten Monticelliwhich was followed by the leftist Kerston dealThen May came right.
Monticelli was making her first appearance since May 9 and only her fourth appearance since March. The Wisconsin transfer got out of the jam by getting out to first base.
May’s last appearance came in a 9-3 semifinal loss to Florida, where she surrendered six hits and four runs (all earned) in the first two innings.
But on this night, May produced a commendable performance after starting top-five. In 1.2 innings, she had one hit and struck out four of the seven batters she faced.
With two outs, runners on second and third and OU clinging to a 5-3 lead in the top of the sixth inning, it was Kelly Maxwell Role.
If it’s physically possible to breathe a sigh of relief while simultaneously screaming your lungs out, that’s exactly what the Sooner faithful did as Maxwell ran out of play into the left corner.
“This is one of the most fun games I’ve ever been in because of that,” Jasso said of her revolving door of shooters. “It was perfectly planned, and worked exactly as it was supposed to work, to a T, to a T.”
Maxwell would face just one batter in the sixth inning. What happened was, to say the least, an adventure.
Mia Scott’s short jumper bounced back to second base Avery Hodge The gauntlet and Scott was initially safe.
After UT’s Julie Mitchell scored in the third to make it 5-4, Scott not only failed to simply return to first base, but she also inexplicably took two slow steps toward second while standing behind OU’s first baseman Sidney Sanders.
Hodge still had the ball and quickly sent it to Sanders, who tagged Scott to end the inning, snapping a tying run at third.
UT’s last run was recorded in May. Surprisingly, this was the first relief outing Maye has allowed since February of her sophomore season.
In the bottom half of the sixth inning, the Sooners’ offense faced three deadly runs on three hits, and even though they left three hits on base, they still managed to double up the Longhorns by a score of 8-4.
Maxwell, who was an obvious choice as the tournament’s most outstanding player, quietly put out Texas hitters for the seventh to seal the deal.
Hansen, Jennings, joined the South. Ella Parker And Cassidy Pickering On the WCWS All-Tournament Team as part of five selections for the tournament’s leading OUs.
Eventually, the Sooner Magic joined the Maxwell Magic.
Maxwell transferred from Oklahoma State after last season, but for the Sooners she was sent to heaven.
“It was great,” Maxwell said. “This whole team, they’re special. I’m grateful to be a part of this.”
Deal (14-1) got the win. UT pitcher Estelle Czech (8-4), who was one of two pitchers to defeat the Sooners 2-1 in early April, took the loss.
Texas entered the game with a 43-0 record when scoring its first goal of the season. The Longhorns went 1-0 at the top of the runner-up but ended up finishing 43-1 under the circumstances.
New player Cassidy Pickering He launched an opposite-run home run to left field in the bottom of the second to put OU up 2-1.
Texas tied the score at 2 in the third period and took a 3-2 lead into the fourth period. The Sooners took the lead for good with three runs in the fourth on four hits. OU’s three points in the sixth provided the final insurance needed to secure the title.
“These players are tired, but they keep progressing,” Jasso said. “It’s love for each other. It’s love for the game. It’s love for the university. But they’re elite athletes with intense passion.”
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