Momentum took an ugly turn for No. 1 Oklahoma on Friday, and the SEC championship race got a lot tighter as a result.
The Sooners (46-7, 18-4) dropped Game 1 of their series against No. 12 Texas A&M 8-5 on Friday afternoon in the completion of a game that started and was suspended from Thursday night. OU is still in the driver's seat as far as its conference championship hopes, but the margin for error just became much narrower after the upset.
Sooners now in danger of letting SEC title slip away after loss to Texas A&M
Oklahoma was leading Texas A&M 5-3 with one out and a runner on first in the bottom half of the sixth inning when Thursday's game was delayed and ultimately suspended because of severe weather in the area.
In retrospect, the Sooners probably would have been better off playing on and finishing out the game on Thursday night because the bottom literally fell out on Oklahoma when the two teams returned to the field at Davis Diamond in College Station at midday on Friday, and the momentum from the night before took a dramatic and cruel turn.
Audrey Lowry, the Oklahoma starter from Thursday's game, returned to the circle for the Sooners to resume the suspended game. Before Thursday's game was suspended, the sophomore left-hander had given up three runs on six hits and struck out eight in 5.1 innings.
After throwing a wild pitch when the game resumed on Friday that allowed the A&M runner on first to advance to second, Lowry retired the No. 8 hitter, Paislie Allen, on a sacrifice bunt attempt for the second out, with Kelsey Mathis, who had led off the inning with a single the night before, moving over to third.
Needing one out to retire the side in the Texas A&M sixth and send the game to the seventh inning with Oklahoma's 5-3 advantage intact, Sooner head coach Patty Gasso pulled Lowry in favor of a righty-righty matchup between OU reliever Miali Guachino and the Aggies' pinch-hitter, Maddie Sauni.
After working the count full off of Gauchino, Sauni sliced a single through the left side of the OU infield, scoring the runner on third, and the Oklahoma lead was now down to one, 5-4. That's when the floodgates -- as well as the OU bullpen gate in left field -- came unhinged and brought with it a revolving door of seven consecutive hitters reaching base. The Sooners ended up using four pitchers in the inning just to record two outs.
By the time the dust had settled in the disastrous sixth for Oklahoma, Texas A&M had scored five times on five hits (all singles), two walks, a hit batter and an OU error, and the 5-3 Sooner advantage quickly became 8-5 with OU heading to its final at bat.
Read more: Oklahoma vs Texas A&M showdown could finally settle unfinished business
Gasso's defending SEC regular-season champions can only blame themselves for the final outcome in the series-opening game with Texas A&M. After Ella Parker's two-run home run in the top of the second inning gave Oklahoma a 4-0 lead, the Sooners went 1-for-18 at the plate the rest of the way.
The air was completely out of the balloon when Oklahoma came to bat in the top of the seventh. A&M reliever Sidne Peters retired the side in order in the seventh, and what on Thursday night looked like it could be an OU victory clinching at least a share of the SEC regular-season championship now leaves both Alabama and Florida just one game back of the Sooners with two games left to play.
Texas A&M's dramatic win also provided the Aggies renewed hope as title contenders. A&M came into the regular season-ending series against Oklahoma three games back of the Sooners in the standings and needing a sweep to unseat OU and potentially earn a share of the conference title. Now, the Aggies are one game closer to that.
Because of more severe weather in the area, Game 2 will not be played on Friday as regularly scheduled and sets up a doubleheader for Saturday. The Sooners need to win both games to be in full control and clinch the the SEC title.
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