by By: John Rohde
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – There’s only one Oklahoma. There’s also only one softball program to win four straight NCAA championships.
The Sooners officially capped the most dominant four-year span in Division I history Thursday night with an 8-4 victory over rival Texas at the Women’s College World Series.
The clincher came in Game Two of the best-of-three championship series before a crazed sellout 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 the last 36 meetings and are 6-0 against the Longhorns in the WCWS.
For those in the OU party who claimed their fourth straight national title, this year’s championship ring undoubtedly was the tightest fit.
After last season’s 61-1 magic carpet ride to the crown, this year’s journey was much bumpier.
Although departing seniors Tiare Jennings, Jayda Coleman, Kinzie Hansen, Rylie Boone and Nicole May never lost their final game of any season, doubters came from all directions in 2024 — including inside state lines.
“We fought all season,” Hansen said. “Everybody had something to say about us all the time. People counted us out. It was just a grind — mentally, physically. We fought the whole year. It was all so worth it in this moment.”
Coleman added, “Honestly, the whole season was tough. As we went on, if we lost one game, two games, lost to Texas, everyone had an opinion about us. It was frustrating just to see everyone on Twitter, TikTok hoping anybody else but us. That didn’t happen, so. …”
Head coach Patty Gasso admitted the degree of difficulty was high for her Sooners.
“People say, ‘Let’s go win one.’ You’re like, ‘OK.’ It’s not like that. It’s very difficult,” Gasso said.
“Everything has to go right. The thing about them is they’re resilient. They have a lot of pride in that. With that, it’s hard for me to comprehend. I continue to say this one was the hardest to manage.
“It wasn’t easy, this season. I hear them (my players) and I agree. It’s probably the hardest coaching season that I’ve had in a while because of a lot of the naysayers, a lot of … I don’t know. It’s heavy. I don’t know how to explain how heavy. Heavy is a head that wears the crown is the one thing that really stuck out. That really has felt true. It’s been exhausting.”
In terms of pitching, Thursday’s title game was uncharacteristically chaotic. OU (59-7) and Texas (55-10) both pitched by committee, combining to use eight pitchers.
For the first 17 outs, the Sooners sent four pitchers to the circle.
Right-hander Karlie Keeney started, was relieved by righty Paytn Monticelli, who was followed by lefty Kierston Deal, and then came righty May.
Monticelli was making her first appearance since May 9 and just her fourth appearance since March. The Wisconsin transfer got out of the jam with a ground-out to first base.
May’s most recent appearance came in a 9-3 semifinal loss to Florida, during which she surrendered six hits and four runs (all earned) in the first 2.0 innings.
On this night, however, May performed commendably after starting the top of the fifth. In 1.2 innings, she yielded one hit and struck out four of the seven batters she faced.
With two outs, runners at second and third and OU clinging to a 5-3 lead in the top of the sixth inning, it was Kelly Maxwell’s turn.
If it’s physically possible to breathe a sigh of relief while simultaneously screaming your lungs out, that’s precisely what the Sooner faithful did as Maxwell emerged from the left-field corner bullpen.
“This is one of the most enjoyable games I’ve ever been a part of because of that,” Gasso said of her revolving door of pitchers. “It was exactly planned out, and it worked exactly how it was supposed to, to a T, to a T.”
Maxwell would face just one batter in the sixth. What transpired was, to say the least, an adventure.
Mia Scott’s short-hop grounder to second base bounced out of Avery Hodge’s glove and Scott was safe at first.
After UT’s Joley Mitchell had scored from third to make it 5-4, not only did Scott fail to simply return to first base, she also inexplicably took two slow steps toward second while standing behind OU first baseman Cydney Sanders.
Hodge still had the ball and quickly flipped it to Sanders, who tagged out Scott to end the inning, stranding the tying run at third.
UT’s last run was credited to May. Amazingly, it was the first run in relief May had allowed since February of her sophomore season.
In the bottom half of the sixth, the Sooners’ offense tacked on three lethal runs on three hits and, even though they left three on base, still managed to double-up the Longhorns by a score of 8-4.
Maxwell, who was an obvious pick as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, calmly snuffed out Texas batters in order in the seventh to seal the deal.
The southpaw was joined by Hansen, Jennings, Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering on the WCWS All-Tournament team as part of a tournament-leading five OU selections.
In the end, Sooner Magic had conjoined with Maxwell Magic.
Maxwell transferred from Oklahoma State after last season, but for the Sooners she was heaven-sent.
“It’s been awesome,” Maxwell said. “This whole team, they’re special. I’m just thankful that I got 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 beat the Sooners 2-1 in early April, took the loss.
Texas entered the game with a 43-0 record when scoring first this season. The Longhorns took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second but ended up finishing the season 43-1 under such circumstances.
Freshman outfielder Kasidi Pickering launched a two-run, opposite field home run to left in the bottom of the second to put OU in front 2-1.
Texas tied the score at 2 in the third and took a 3-2 lead in the fourth. The Sooners took the lead for good with three runs in the fourth coming on four hits. An OU three-spot in the sixth provided the final insurance needed to secure the title.
“These players are exhausted, but they keep going,” Gasso said. “It’s the love for each other. It’s the love for the game. It’s the love for the university. But they’re elite athletes who have extreme passion.”
