OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — No. 2 Oklahoma's role as an “underdog” (as coach Patty Gasso called the Sooners on Tuesday) didn't last long.
In Game 1 of the Women's College World Series finals, Oklahoma reprized its role as Texas' foil, defeating the Longhorns 8-3 while launching three home runs as starter Kelly Maxwell kept the No. 1 Longhorns' bats in check. .
Maxwell, an offseason transfer from Oklahoma State who crossed rivalry lines to join the Sooners, was making his first appearance in a WCWS final. Despite throwing 148 pitches on Tuesday to help the Sooners survive an elimination game against Florida, Maxwell went all seven innings on Wednesday, striking out eight and allowing just one earned run on 119 pitches.
“Kelly was masterful the entire game,” Gasso said. “Her dream has been… she's never gotten this far, and now that you're in the championship series, the adrenaline is taking over. But she's not going to let this opportunity pass. I asked her if she wanted the ball. She looked at me Like, 'Duh.' I'm like, 'Okay, we're good.'”
On the Texas side, Teagan Kavan's storybook WCWS career ended when the freshman, who had pitched two one-hit shutouts against Stanford, opened the game by hitting Jayda Coleman with a pitch and then allowed a home run off Oklahoma star Tiare Jennings. , who hit his 11th career home run in the WCWS, one shy of the all-time record.
Kavan suffered the loss after allowing five earned runs and three home runs in 2 1/3 innings against the Sooners.
“We have to come out and control the game a little better in the first inning. Tough start for our rookie,” Texas coach Mike White said of Kavan. “Obviously Teagan was our hot hand. If I hadn't started her, if someone else had given up racing, I'd say why didn't I start Teagan? You ride the horse that got you there.”
The Sooners' eight runs were the third-most in a WCWS Championship Series game, behind the 16- and 10-run games against the Longhorns in 2022. Oklahoma is now 6-0 against Texas in games of the NCAA tournament, beating the Longhorns 55-14.
While the Longhorns closed the gap this year, winning a regular-season series against the Sooners for the first time since 2009, Wednesday's loss in the best-of-three series has the Longhorns fighting to stay alive.
“Now it's their turn to lose in some way,” White said of the Sooners. “They have to win one of the next two games. I like being in that position, sometimes being the underdog. We're the best for a while, so to speak, but were we? They're three-time national champions. Champions. It's a mental game. Champions rethink how we can reframe this loss, what we're facing now, go out there and have a better game and see if we can play good softball.”
The good news for the Longhorns is that they lost the first game to the Sooners in Austin during the regular season before fighting back and winning the next two. And in the super regional against another rival, Texas A&M, the Longhorns lost the first game before recovering to win the next two.
“I think we've done a good job of changing the momentum,” said Joley Mitchell of Texas. “We're a tough team. As long as we stay together and get the job done, we'll be fine in the next two games.”
Still, only one team in the last 10 years (Oklahoma in 2021) came back to win a national championship after losing Game 1.
For most of the Sooners, who are chasing an unprecedented fourth straight WCWS title, a win here is nothing new. But for Maxwell, who came to Norman for one last chance to win a national championship, there is an urgency.
“This is it,” he said. “This is my last chance. I'm going to do everything I can to keep this team in this. I know they have my back and I have theirs.”
Gasso said he can feel Maxwell's confidence in big moments, like closing out the game with two strikeouts.
“There are some things that are stirring internally in her that are difficult to explain,” Gasso said. “She just feels at peace with what's going on. She's not chasing. She doesn't feel nervous. She's at peace with her team about what she's doing, how she's doing it. What was really cool is seeing her go out in the seventh and just pumping it. She was chasing it.”
With Thursday's Game 2 just around the corner, the Sooners are tempered in their excitement, even after beating a rival in the championship series.
“We're not too jubilant because we know there's still a lot of work to do against a very, very good team that has very good pitchers, very good hitters,” Gasso said. “We still know what's ahead of us. So you don't see us celebrating.”
On Thursday, Oklahoma could clinch its eighth overall championship, but there is plenty of familiarity between the two Big 12 rivals, who are headed to the SEC next season.
“I know Texas is not a softie,” Oklahoma receiver Kinzie Hansen said. “They're not going to tip over.”
