Freshman infielder Katie Stewart stood at the plate, the championship riding on her bat.
The stadium was packed with around 12,000 Sooner fans engulfing the burnt orange section in the stands and creating deafening noise.
Stewart was facing Oklahoma’s fifth pitcher of the night, the pitcher who had struck out eight Texas batters the night before. The pitcher, who had already struck out sophomore catcher Reese Atwood, induced a flyout and put two strikes on the board against Stewart.
Kelly Maxwell.
Even though the Sooners were up by four runs, there was still a chance. Stewart got ready at the plate, prepared to do what she does best.
But with a ground ball to third base, the crowd erupted. No. 2/2 Oklahoma won the second game in the Women’s College World Series championship finals against No. 1/1 Texas 8-4, winning their fourth consecutive national championship.
“We continued to fight, we showed our Texas fight the whole entire year,” freshman outfielder Kayden Henry said. “We worked our way to number one for a reason. We’ll be back here again.”
Throughout the night, the game’s momentum swung back and forth, and neither team allowed the other to pull ahead until the game neared the end.
In the first inning, Oklahoma got a double play, then Texas did the same.
Then, in the second, the Longhorns brought in the night’s first run. Stealing second after being walked, Atwood found herself in scoring position with Henry at the plate.
Finding the right spot in center field, Henry brought Atwood home.
The Sooners, always vigilant, responded with a two-run home run.
But unlike in their opening game, Texas did not let it go unanswered. Sophomore shortstop Viviana Martinez found a sweet spot through the middle and got to first. Atwood followed suit, hitting a ball through the middle to get Martinez to third.
After Atwood stole for the second time, Stewart was walked, leaving the bases loaded for captain senior infielder Alyssa Washington.
Texas’ solo captain took the lead. With a hit through the middle, Washington tied the game.
But Oklahoma didn’t let Texas gain any more runs that inning, despite the advantage.
“The first night we were chasing, and this morning we’d been practicing picking a zone and hunting that zone instead of chasing the wild pitches that could be ball four,” Martinez said.
Henry stepped up to the plate again in the fourth inning, hitting a single through the left side, then using her speed to make stealing second base look easy. A sacrifice bunt and a base hit by junior infielder Mia Scott that was missed by the second baseman brought Henry home to take the lead.
The Sooners struck back hard. Solid base hits loaded the bases and brought the score up to 3-5.
The Longhorns got another chance in the sixth inning. With runners on second and third, Scott drove a ball through the right side. Sophomore second baseman Avery Hodge fumbled it, allowing Mitchell to come in to score and leaving Scott safe at first.
But in a costly error, Scott stepped off the base and was tagged.
“No one feels worse than Mia Scott right now,” head coach Mike White said. “She’s already beaten herself up (for it), I know she has, and hopefully she learns from that.”
The error gave the Sooners the momentum. With more solid base hitting, the Sooners scored three more runs.
“I think our ladies conduct themselves in a way that you want your young kids to see and play the game,” White said. “Not always perfect, I get it. We make mistakes and everything. But they are working hard and being ambassadors for the sport of softball.”
With the loss, Texas finished the season with an overall record of 55-10, 21 of which were shutout games. They threw three shutout games in the WCWS before coming in second to Oklahoma. Texas dominated throughout the season, and, with a fairly young team, their future looks bright.
