OKLAHOMA CITY — No. 2 Oklahoma (51-8) fell to No. 6 Texas (53-11) 4-2 in game one of the winners bracket. It was the first time Texas had beaten OU in the state of Oklahoma since 2014, and its first-ever win over the Sooners in the Women's College World Series.
The Sooners and Longhorns were stuck in a stalemate at two runs apiece through four innings. However, In the bottom of the fifth, Texas’ Kayden Henry sent a line-drive solo home run over the right field wall to take a 3-2 lead that they wouldn’t give back.
“They’re too good, their team is too good for us to walk in and think we’re just going to shut them down,” head coach Patty Gasso said following Saturday’s loss. “They’re too good, they’ve proven it. They’re definitely a team that could win this whole thing, I know that, but we’re not done yet.”
After a two-run first inning from Texas, OU’s offense responded quickly, stringing together four hits and two runs in the first two innings, tying the game at 2-2, but OU couldn't put much together offensively after that.
Similar to Thursday’s opening day matchup with No. 7 Tennessee, the Sooners couldn’t put together big rallies like they have in the past.
OU finished the day 7-28, with four of those hits coming in the first two innings. The Sooners finished 5-25 in their win against Tennessee, combining for 12 hits in 53 at bats through its first two games in Oklahoma City.
The offensive leaders on the day were junior outfielder Abigale Dayton, who finished 1-3 with the Sooners’ only RBI of the day and her 17th of the season.
that'll do the job 16!Abby with the RBI single after @isabelaemerling's sac bunt 👏 pic.twitter.com/PfliMIo0oJ
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) May 31, 2025
Freshman shortstop Gabbie Garcia and sophomore Ella Parker, who was the hero of game one with a three-run walk-off homer, had two hits each.
No other OU batter recorded more than one hit, while eight went hitless.
“Its not that they weren’t trying, there was a little bit of frustration going on in the offensive side of things, and you could feel it,” Gasso said on the offensive struggles. “Just a little bit of uncertainty of what should I look for, what should I choose, I mean the goal is just get runners in scoring position.”
Texas’ ace Teagan Kavan, who pitched a shutout in her first game against Florida, kept the Sooners’ offense in check. Kavan recorded eight strikeouts and only two walks, limiting the number of free bases she gave to the Sooners.
“(Kavan) was kind of moving the ball up early, and then she really started hammering the zone down,” Gasso said. “Mixing in those change ups, she was really tough today. I give her 100 percent credit, she was really, really good and our timing was off, and our plans were a little bit uncertain.”
In total, the Sooners left nine runners on base, four more than they had against Tennessee. Two crucial runners were left on in the top of the seventh with one out, the tying runners on base and the winning run at the plate.
The final two outs of the game came from back-to-back strikeouts from Garcia and junior outfielder Hannah Coor with runners in scoring position.
Heading into the WCWS, OU’s offense ranked fifth in the nation in runs per game (7.75) and second in home runs per game (2.05). Texas’ Kavan and Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens both found success on the explosive Sooners’ lineup, proving to the world that the OU bats can be suppressed.
The loss moved the Sooners into the losers bracket, where they will face No. 16 Oregon in an elimination game on Sunday. The key to the game will be finding ways to get runners on base, whether it's through hits or walks, and capitalizing on those opportunities.
Sunday’s matchup with Oregon is set for 6 p.m. at Devon Park and will be airing on ESPN2.
This story was edited by Parker Coyne.
