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Oklahoma is 1 win away from history.
In Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series championship series, the Sooners blasted the top-seeded Texas Longhorns 8-3. They stand just 1 win away from a fourth consecutive national championship, something that has never been done in WCWS history.
Sooner pitcher Kelly Maxwell earned her 23rd win of the season. Tiare Jennings, Ella Parker, and Kinzie Hansen all went 2-for-4 at the plate. Jennings batted in 3 runs. And 3 different Sooners hit homers.
For Texas, Kavan took the loss — her third of the year. Mia Scott had a first-inning home run but nothing the rest of the way. Texas got just 4 hits off Maxwell.
Oklahoma jumped all over Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan in a way few had previously. Through the Longhorns’ first 3 games at the WCWS (all wins), Kavan had taken the mound twice and given up 2 total hits in 14 innings of work with 15 strikeouts. In the 1-0 win over Stanford to reach the final, Kavan sat down 20 of the 22 batters she faced. She’d given up 3 hits or less in 5 of her last 6 appearances.
No one was hitting her.
Was.
When Kasidi Pickering hit a solo shot to left center in the top of the third inning, Texas pulled Kavan and put in Mac Morgan. Oklahoma had 6 hits after 3. The Sooners homered in the first inning and then took Kavan yard twice in the third inning. When the third ended, OU had a 5-1 lead.
Jayda Coleman was hit by a pitch as the leadoff. Jennings brought her home on the next at-bat with a 2-run homer to left center — her 11th all-time at the WCWS. Jennings was already the all-time leader in RBIs at the WCWS, and she sits second in WCWS homers.
Oklahoma stranded 2 runners in the second inning, but Kinzie Hansen and Pickering hit back-to-back home runs to score 3.
The Sooners went down in order in the fourth, but after another pitching change from Texas to open the fifth, they doubled and then scored on a throwing error.
Jennings came back in the top of the sixth with a 2-out RBI single to push the OU lead to 7-1.
Maxwell ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth. A fielding error at first base gave Viviana Martinez a leadoff triple (officially scored as an error). An RBI single scored Martinez 2 at-bats later. Texas smacked another RBI single with 2 outs on the board to make it 7-3.
But Gasso let her super senior work through the issues. And Maxwell made good on that faith, striking out UT’s Victoria Hunter on a rise ball to strand 2 baserunners and limit the damage.
In 5 seasons at Oklahoma State, Maxwell made 107 appearances and 79 starts in the circle. She collected 58 wins and struck out more than 700 batters. But she was just 2-4 in WCWS games and never played in a WCWS Championship Series.
In her debut on the title stage, Maxwell was strong. She fanned 8 in 7 innings of work. She gave up a solo homer on the Longhorns’ second at-bat of the game but didn’t give up another hit until the sixth. She battled through lengthy at-bats and sprinkled in enough quick outs to go the distance.
Maxwell didn’t need to be perfect, though. The Longhorns couldn’t keep the Sooners off the base path. Eight of 9 reached base. Alyssa Brito doubled in the top of the seventh and then scored off a throwing error from UT catcher Reese Atwood to quell the Texas tide.
UT went quietly in the bottom of the seventh. Maxwell closed things down with back-to-back strikeouts and a smile.
In the regular-season series, Oklahoma took the first game in Austin 5-2. Maxwell worked a complete game with 10 strikeouts and 2 runs allowed that day.
Texas followed that loss up with back-to-back 2-1 wins.
The question in Oklahoma City now becomes a simple one: Can the Longhorns do it again?
Game 2 is slated for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Related: Want to bet on the Women’s College World Series? Check out our guide on the top betting apps for real money to get you off and rolling.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
