Tennessee overcame a three-run deficit, scoring five times in the visitor's half of the fourth inning, and got a four-hit, complete-game performance from pitching ace Karlyn Pickens to defeat Oklahoma 5-3 on Sunday and win the series from the No. 2 Sooners.
Patty Gasso's four-time defending national champions began the 2025 campaign with 28 consecutive wins. In the last two conference series in the fiercely competitive SEC, however, the vulnerabilities of this year's Sooner team have been exposed. As a result, OU is just 3-3 in its last six games against SEC foes.
The series opener on Friday, much like the finale on Sunday, featured a pitching duel between the Sooners' Sam Landry and Pickens of Tennessee, although the Lady Vols started the game with Sage Nardjetko, who worked the first two innings before giving way to Pickens in the third.
The Lady Vols drew first blood on a two-run homer by Amayah Doyle in the second inning. OU tied the game in the fifth on a solo home run by Utah transfer Abigale Dayton.
Neither team scored in the sixth and seventh inning on Friday, sending the game into extra innings. Tennessee scored three times in the top of the eighth, the big blow coming on a two-run blast by former Sooner Sophia Nugent. Pickens shut down the Sooners in order in the bottom half of the eighth to preserve the 5-2 win for the visiting Volunteers.
It was all Oklahoma on Saturday as junior left-hander Kirsten Deal pitched a complete-game, four-hitter in leading the Sooners to a 4-1 victory. Cydney Sanders gave OU all it needed with a three-run long ball in the fourth inning and Kasidi Pickering collected three of the Sooners' five hits.
Pickering put the Sooners ahead 3-0 on Sunday with a bases-clearing double in the third inning, but a two-run double by Laura Mealer of Tennessee in the top of the fourth immediately followed by a three-run homer by Ella Dodge erased the Oklahoma advantage and put the Volunteers on top 5-3. That score held up the rest of the way, handing OU its first series loss of the season.
The Sooners are back in action Tuesday night on the road at UT Arlington for their final midweek road game of the season. This coming weekend, Oklahoma takes a week off from conference play to host the Okana Invitational with a single game against St. Thomas and games with Central Florida on Saturday and Sunday.
Notable notes from the Oklahoma-Tennessee series
- Louisiana transfer Sam Landry pitched two complete games against Tennessee, but was the losing pitcher in both games. The losses were her first two of the season after 10 consecutive wins.
- Prior to the Tennessee series, OU was 8-0 against ranked teams this season and 3-0 against top-10 teams. The Sooners are now 8-2 against ranked teams and 4-2 against teams in the top 10.
- OU sophomore outfielder Kasidi Pickering was 7-for-8 at the plate over the weekend and is on a 10-game hitting streak. Before her final at-bat on Sunday, she had reached base safely in 15 consecutive plate appearances.
- Oklahoma's loss in the series opener on Friday was its first at home this season and snapped a 19-game win streak at Love's Field that dated back to last season.
- With the complete-game win on Saturday, Oklahoma's Kierston Deal improved to 7-0 in 2025 and is 24-1 for her career.