Something had to give eventually.
The No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners fell to the No. 6 Texas Longhorns 4-2 on Saturday at Devon Park in the second round of the Women's College World Series. The Longhorns advanced to the semifinals and are in the driver's seat of going to their second straight championship series, while the Sooners dropped to the losers bracket on the other side of the tournament.
Sooners’ WCWS magic runs out as Texas finally breaks the curse
Texas seemed to be cursed against the Sooners in the WCWS, and really, so has everyone else, too. The Sooners have been nearly invincible at the WCWS while winning the last four national championships.
Even this year, just two days ago, Tennessee had OU on the ropes and destined for death row of the WCWS, but instead, Ella Parker hit a walk-off three-run homer when OU was down to its final out. That swing set up a Red River rematch.
Saturday was the first time Texas ever beat the Sooners in the WCWS. The Longhorns were previously 0-5 against OU in the tournament. Four of those losses came in the championship series, as OU and Texas have clashed in two of the last three WCWS finals, with the Sooners sweeping and being crowned champs both times.
The outcome was also the first time since 2014 that Texas beat the Sooners in the state of Oklahoma, whether that be in OKC or Norman. That was 25 straight in-state wins for OU.
This season, the Sooners swept Texas in their first-ever SEC regular-season series at Love's Field. That sweep propelled OU to the top of the SEC standings before ultimately winning the regular-season conference championship and being co-champions of the SEC Softball Tournament.
In what would be Texas coach Mike White's worst nightmare, if the Sooners and Longhorns meet again this WCWS, it would be in the championship series for the second consecutive year and third time in the last four seasons. Every time before resulted in the Sooners being national champions.
But first, the Sooners will have to turn around the next day and play the No. 16 Oregon Ducks in an elimination game at 6 p.m. CT Sunday. The winner of that game will need to beat Texas Tech twice on Monday to make the championship series.
If the Sooners lose between now and then, there will be a national champion other than OU for the first time since UCLA in 2019.
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