This Oklahoma softball team continues to defy the odds. The Sooners say they never feel like they are out of a game they're behind until the final out is recorded, but on Thursday afternoon at the Women's College World Series, they were within two strikes of succumbing to defeat.
With one swing of the bat, Sooner All-American Ella Parker turned a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 walk-off, come-from-behind Oklahoma win that left 11,805 fans at Devon Park in Oklahoma City both stunned and crazed at the same time.
How many times have we heard a play-by-play announcer say something like, "Two on, two out and the winning run is at the plate?" And how many countless times has that sanguine expression only led to false hope?
Somehow, the Sooners managed to turn what appeared to be a sure loss into a miraculous victory, sending Oklahoma into the winners bracket of the WCWS and a rematch of last season's championship showdown with arch-rival Texas.
Oklahoma softball pulled off the kind of win only champions manage
Perhaps no one in the stadium was more shocked by the outcome than Tennessee All-American pitcher Karlyn Pickens, who to the point in time of Parker's dagger-to-the-heart second home run of the game appeared to be in complete control of the Sooner offense. You could see the confidence in her face ("I got this") as she turned to face her teammates after each pitch.
Pickens had already struck out eight Oklahoma hitters, including Isabela Emerling a couple of hitters before Parker's game-winning blast, and just needed two more strikes to potentially ring up Parker and put the game in the win column for the Volunteers.
After the game, Sooner head coach Patty Gasso appeared as stunned as everyone else over the outcome.
"Wow! Just speechless," Gasso began her postgame press conference. "When you're a team that's just struggling to find a way to get on base. I thought Tennessee pitched outstanding.
"One thing we noticed -- and I'm just going to be really honest -- was watching people leave the game. And it was in the seventh. I kind of shared that with the team."
Winning games like OU did, down to its last out against Tennessee, is what championship teams do. Tradition doesn't graduate.
Even with 14 newcomers to the Sooners' 22-player 2025 roster, there is little question that this mostly new group of OU softball players has that same championship pedigree and mindset.
"One thing, if you're watching us through the season, we're never done," Gasso said postgame. "You give us one extra strike, one extra pitch, and we're gonna find something out of it. Usually Ella (Parker) is on the end of that."
Ella "Clutch" was certainly that, in the right place at the right time and in the WCWS spotlight on Thursday afternoon.
Many will no doubt say that Oklahoma was extremely fortunate --even lucky -- to win this game, and they won't be wrong. But you have to be able to win these kind of games if you're going to play for national championships. And let's not forget what the true definition of "luck" is: It's when preparation meets opportunity.
Tennessee head coach Karen Weekly, who has had success against Oklahoma winning seven of 16 games, on one hand praised the Sooners in speaking with reporters after the game, while also adding a back-handed slap at OU's championship success.
"Well, there’s a lot of talent out there," Weekly said. "They have some of the absolute best players in the country. Patty Gasso is a phenomenal coach. You don’t win that many national championships without being an exceptional coach.
What the Tennessee head coach failed to point out, though, is getting to the Women's College World Series is not a given. It's not easy to get there. You still have to win a lot of games to get to the Women's College World Series every year. And that's something the Oklahoma softball program under Patty Gasso has managed to do with extraordinary regularity over the past 25 years.
Gasso's whiz kids will next go up against No. 6 Texas, a team the Sooners swept in a three-game series in Norman earlier this month. Oklahoma is 6-0 against the Longhorns in the WCWS and has won a remarkable 36 of the last 39 meetings against its bitter rival.
It's probably safe to conclude that the Sooners are going to face a revenge-motivated group of Texas players on the WCWS stage on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT on ABC.
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