OKLAHOMA CITY — Patty Gasso had a bold message for the Texas Longhorns before her Oklahoma softball team clashes with them Wednesday night for the national championship.

“We know each other very well,” Gasso said. “Kind of feel like we're the underdogs this year.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Come again.

How is it again that the three-time defending national champions could possibly be anyone’s underdog when they just clipped Florida 6-5 on Jayda Coleman’s leadoff home run in the eighth inning to reach the best-of-three Women's College World Series championship series that starts Wednesday night?

Didn’t the Sooners just celebrate a 20-game winning streak in NCAA Tournament play before the Gators interrupted it with a 9-3 upset behind four home runs on Monday? Doesn’t OU have 115 home runs as a team, second-best in the nation?

And weren’t the red-clad OU fans who made up the bulk of the crowd of 11,166 in the stands screaming “Sooner Magic” after Coleman’s huge hit in Tuesday’s elimination game? And won’t those same fans pack Devon Park and speak unkind words to the Longhorns for each of these games in the biggest home-advantage in any championship competition since OU is playing just a few Tiare Jennings homers away from here?

But if that’s how the Sooners plan to approach their climactic showdown with the Longhorns before these two bitter Big 12 rivals evolve into even more bitter SEC rivals, more power to them.

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Texas, Oklahoma are clearly the best teams in the country

It only adds to the drama as OU aims for an unprecedented fourth straight crown and eighth overall while Texas seeks its first in school history. This figures to be an epic collision between two power-laden teams so familiar with each other, they might be guilty of running to the wrong dugouts the next few days.

On paper, these two are dangerously even.

After all, Texas won the Big 12 regular season after taking two of three from OU in Austin. Oklahoma then won the Big 12 Tournament by walloping Texas in the final.

Four meetings this season. Texas won two. OU won two.

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They came here with the Longhorns as the 1 seed and the Sooners as the 2 seed.

Texas has more pitching. OU has more power. Texas has more speed. OU has more experience with 10 seniors.

Texas should have more want-to. OU has been more done-that.

Texas has a damn good coach. OU has maybe the best coach in softball history. Texas has more rest, having had Tuesday off. OU has more fans to perk them up.

And the Sooners, according to their seven-time champion coach, alas, are in the underdog role.

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“That's OK,” Gasso said about being the underdog. “It's good for us. We had to really fight our way through here. We've got some really good momentum. We know each other very well. I don't know that there are a lot of secrets. It's going to be an absolute battle.”

This time, Texas won't wilt on the big stage

Texas coach Mike White won’t quibble over any labels, and he relishes the chance before him. He just roots for a better outcome than the two-game sweep at the hands of OU in the 2022 finals here.

“The opportunity is there,” White said. “They’re the best. People always say if you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.”

And OU has clearly been the best for quite some time.

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This Texas team won’t shrink from a fight, especially against its biggest rival. It survived the last intra-family conflict, holding off Texas A&M, the best 16 seed in history, in last week’s super regional. The Horns have that in their memory bank, something that might steel any nerves for this showdown.

As he always does, White wouldn’t tip his hand about his starting pitcher. He even said he might “go with rock, paper, scissors” for his choice.

He certainly has options. With freshman Teagan Kavan having thrown two straight one-hit shutouts against Stanford and junior Mac Morgan adding a third against Florida and veteran Citlaly Gutierrez fresh, White has his pick of pitchers.

Gasso could stick with ace Kelly Maxwell (22-2), but that might be asking a lot since the senior left-hander just threw 148 pitches in a complete game in the heat of the day. She surrendered three home runs in the first three innings, then settled down and checked the Gators on one measly single over the final 5⅔ innings.

But Gasso knows Florida rocked OU’s No. 2 pitcher Nicole May with four home runs on Monday and may want to seize the momentum in Game 1 with her star.

So does OU think Texas is at its same level, and how much will emotions figure into the proceedings?

“I don't think we're trying to prove any point here,” Maxwell said. “This year has been hard. But we deserve to be here. I think just staying within us and knowing we have a God that serves us, we're going to go out here and give it our all.”

Texas plans to as well, no matter who's the underdog.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas-Oklahoma softball WCWS blockbuster coming to a diamond near you