Sooners stunned in WCWS semifinals, but this dynasty isn’t dead yet

The Oklahoma softball dynasty certainly isn't over, but it is on hold now.

The best college softball program in the country met the best pitcher in college softball on Monday night at Devon Park in Oklahoma City. Needing two wins to get to their sixth straight Women's College World Series championship series, the No. 2 Sooners lost the first game to No. 12 Texas Tech 3-2 at the hands of NiJaree Canady.

The loss ended the Sooners' 2025 season, their first in the SEC, and their reign as defending four-time national champions. It's the first time since 2018 that OU failed to reach the finals at the WCWS.

NiJaree Canady leads Texas Tech past Oklahoma

It was an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. Canady, Texas Tech's ace, entered the game with the best ERA in the country at .86. And it took nearly the entire seven innings for the Sooners to get Canady to budge.

Canady was a pitch away from not only getting Texas Tech to the championship series in its first WCWS appearance in program history, but also becoming the first pitcher in six years to the day to shut out the Sooners.

But the Sooners need only one strike to create magic. Nine-hole hitter Abigale Dayton, with two home runs all season, had an 0-2 count with two outs in the top of the seventh when Canady threw her a changeup that she sent over the blue right-center wall to tie the game 2-2.

It was reminiscent of Ella Parker's walk-off three-run homer with two outs against Florida only four days before in OU's first game of the WCWS on Thursday. This time, though, OU's opposition had a chance to punch back.

After Sam Landry got the first batter of the bottom half with a groundout, Mihyia Davis singled up the middle, then Hailey Toney hit a double off the left-field wall to put runners on second and third with one out. Then, as Canady watched from the on-deck circle, Lauren Allred hit a fly ball to right field that Sydney Barker caught but couldn't get the throw in quick enough to beat Davis from third.

It was a historical win for Texas Tech and a historical outcome for college softball. After the Sooners won the last four national titles, a new champion will be crowned for the first time when the Red Raiders play Texas in the best-of-three championship series that starts Wednesday night. The Longhorns were swept by OU in last year's WCWS final before sending the Sooners to the losers bracket in their last meeting on Saturday.

The Sooners finished their season at 52-9 in the semifinals of the WCWS. They were regular-season conference champions and co-champions of the SEC Softball Tournament in their first year in the SEC. And they did it with the second-most freshmen in the SEC after Patty Gasso had to replace nearly all of last year's roster.

The ESPN broadcast proclaimed that Texas Tech ended the OU softball dynasty on Monday night. This OU softball dynasty is not done, though. The Sooners are not going anywhere, and no matter what Texas or Texas Tech accomplish this week, OU will be back next year. And the next.

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