The wind may have changed the direction of the ball in the air on Friday night, but the wind didn’t blow hard enough to knock down No. 1 Oklahoma softball from their high ranking.

In a seven inning battle between the two rivals, the No. 4/5 Longhorns lost the series opener to Oklahoma 5-2 after almost mounting a comeback in the final inning. 

“They just continue to get stronger it seems like, so we’re excited to play them and I think that’s how we have to look at it,” head coach Mike White said. “We’re not losing, we’re learning.” 

The rivalry game brought fans across the Red River and filled the stands with both burnt orange and crimson, both of which got progressively louder throughout the game. 

The crowd was riled up for both teams starting in the third inning as defensive mistakes and good hits into the outfield brought in two runs for the Sooners. 

With runners on first and third base, Texas junior starting pitcher Mac Morgan began to look frustrated. A ball cracked out into the outfield could have brought the score up to 0-1. 

After further review, Texas got a major break. The umpires ruled that a runner left early and the runner on first was called out unassisted, meaning that the game remained scoreless. 

Texas fans got on their feet and began to cheer, starting the ‘Texas Fight’ chant. 

Despite the call going their way, the Longhorns were unable to stop the next play. With a ball driven hard into the outfield, the Sooners scored and took the momentum back from the Longhorns. 

“This game is about momentum,” White said. “Whenever you give up runs, you gotta score right away and come back at them.”

But Texas couldn’t get runs on the board immediately. Even though the Sooners were able to find three more runs in the fifth inning, Texas didn’t give up. 

At the bottom of the seventh inning, the Longhorns got their break. Senior infielder Joley Mitchell hit a single, soon advancing to second on a wild pitch. 

The crowd erupted. 

“Credit to [Texas’] crowd,” Oklahoma’s pitcher Kelly Maxwell said. “It was hard to get through that, but I’m just grateful my defense was behind me.”

Maxwell held Texas without a hit for the first four innings, pitching for all seven innings and only allowing three hits total.

Sophomore catcher Reese Atwood stepped up to the plate. Feeling the crowd’s energy behind her, Atwood hit a double into left field, bringing Mitchell in to score. 

Finally, redshirt sophomore Ashton Maloney flied out to left field, but was able to get an RBI, bringing the score up to 5-2. 

The inning and game finished with freshman catcher Katie Stewart grounding out.

“Looking forward to a really good series, continuing on with Saturday and Sunday,” White said. “We’ll be prepared to take it on right from the get go and not wait like we did. We got to be a little more aggressive early on.”