Mussatto: OU softball isn't ready to give up its Women's College World Series crown yet
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
Not heavy enough for the Sooners to relinquish it without an epic, eight-inning fight.
Not heavy enough for the Sooners to relinquish it at all.
Not yet.
OU, which rallied for a 6-5 win against Florida on Tuesday, is headed back to the Women’s College World Series championship series for the fifth consecutive year, where the Sooners will seek their fourth straight national title. OU will face archrival Texas for the second time in three years.
For much of Tuesday, it looked like there would be a new champion for the first time since 2019, when UCLA beat who else but OU.
OU softball vs Texas: Schedule, how to buy tickets for Women's College World Series finals
The Gators jumped Sooners ace Kelly Maxwell out of the gate, scoring two runs in the first and two more in the second. Maxwell’s four earned runs were a season high, and she had only recorded five outs.
“They came out and punched first,” said senior shortstop Tiare Jennings.
But the Sooners play with an air of invincibility. An inevitability.
“We came out and punched again,” Jennings said.
Nearly three hours later, Maxwell was still in the circle. Like a proud prize fighter, she absorbed the early blows without getting knocked out.
“I think I took it personally, honestly,” Maxwell said. “I knew this team was going to fight back.”
After allowing five runs through the first three innings, Maxwell put up five zeros to finish the game. She struck out eight Gators while walking five and allowing four hits, three of which left the yard. Maxwell threw a season-high 148 pitches, but OU coach Patty Gasso said she never considered taking Maxwell out.
It became a war of attrition between Maxwell, the Sooner senior, and Florida freshman Keagan Rothrock. Rothrock was valiant, throwing 130 and 154 pitches in back-to-back days against the Sooners. Two hundred and eighty-four pitches in a 26-hour span.
More: OU softball rallies past Florida into WCWS finals on Jayda Coleman's walk-off home run
Rothrock finally eroded. The Sooners tied the game in the sixth inning after trailing by three runs.
“One of the better games in College World Series history,” Gasso said. “A nail biter. A little bit of everything.”
The Sooner softball machine showed the slightest signs of rust this season. Its pitching not quite as sharp. Its lineup not as potent. Its record not as pristine.
“I don’t know that I could tell you that I believed we would be here again, because it’s so difficult to get here,” said Gasso, who will coach for her eighth national championship. “The way we did it was wonderful.”
The three-time defending champs are led by a group of seniors who know nothing but winning the world series. So of course it was one of those seniors, center fielder Jayda Coleman, who hit the walk-off home run.
It’s been more than 1,800 days, five years, since a team other than the Sooners won the Women’s College World Series.
The crown is heavy, but the Sooners are still wearing it.
With two more wins, OU’s reign will last another year.
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
More: OU softball slugger Ella Parker collides with Florida's Skylar Wallace in WCWS semifinal
WCWS championship series
At Devon Park. All games on ESPN.
Game 1: No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Wednesday
Game 2: No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Thursday
Game 3 (If necessary): No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Friday
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma softball not ready to relinquish WCWS championship crown
