All of college softball was in disbelief last week when Mississippi State upset No. 3 national seed Oklahoma in Super Regionals to end the Sooners' nine-year streak of making the Women's College World Series just down the road in Oklahoma City. Less than a week later, that result is even more dumbfounding after seeing what the Bulldogs immediately did in the WCWS in place of where the Sooners would have been.
WCWS action started Thursday morning at Devon Park with Mississippi State taking on No. 11 Texas Tech. The defending national runners-up Red Raiders promptly hammered Mississippi State 8-0 in just five innings. Meanwhile, the Sooners haven't been run-ruled since 2015.
Texas Tech run-rules Mississippi State to make Oklahoma's upset even more infuriating
Texas Tech immediately put two runs on the board as the home team with a two-run blast by Jackie Lis in the first. The Red Raiders added two more in the second thanks to a pair of RBI doubles to make it 4-0. The nail in the coffin was a four-run fifth that notched the run-rule victory.
While the Red Raiders ran Mississippi State starter Alyssa Faircloth out of the circle in just 1.1 innings, Texas Tech ace NiJaree Canady, who the Sooners are extremely familiar with, gave up just two hits and struck out three while throwing four shutout innings. Fellow All-American Kaitlyn Terry then pitched the final inning and was perfect in the frame.
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Mississippi State was shut out just four days after shutting out the Sooners for the first time since 2019. It was also OU's first series loss of the entire season after claiming the SEC regular-season title.
That matchup of Canady facing the Sooners' historically powerful lineup was one college softball fans started dreaming of the moment the NCAA Softball Championship bracket was revealed. The biggest worry was if the Red Raiders could get past No. 6 Florida in Super Regionals to make it happen, not the Sooners avoiding an upset. Instead, the most highly anticipated matchup of the WCWS was replaced by a shortened blowout. The Sooners are to blame, though.
It was absolute domination by Mississippi State in Norman, but it was the Bulldogs who were dominated on Thursday on the biggest stage by a team many believe OU to be better than. There was no reassurance for OU fans from that outcome.
There was hope Mississippi State, coached by former Sooner Samantha Ricketts, would make a run to not only bring an old OU favorite success, but make sense of the Sooners falling in Super Regionals. Instead, it took just one game to make last weekend's showing by the Sooners even more infuriating and confusing with no reasoning in sight.
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