OU coach Patty Gasso could sense the weight on Kelly Maxwell.

So Saturday morning, Gasso pulled Maxwell aside for a talk.

“It was really getting it off of her,” Gasso said. “It’s been hanging on her since she got here. It’s been hard to watch her not be able to break through.”

Maxwell definitely broke through Saturday, striking out a season-high 11 and leaving UCLA star Maya Brady befuddled as the second-seeded Sooners knocked off the Bruins 1-0 in the winner’s bracket of the Women’s College World Series at Devon Park.

OU (56-6) will have Sunday off before playing at 11 a.m. Monday for a chance to advance to the championship series. They'll play Texas, Florida or Alabama.

The Sooners would have two chances to win one game to advance.

Maxwell was on from the jump, striking out Brady to begin the game.

It was the first of three strikeouts of Brady on the day, the first time Brady had struck out more than twice in a game since 2021.

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Entering the day, Brady had struck out multiple times just once this season — by Stanford phenom NiJaree Canady in April.

After transferring from Oklahoma State in the offseason, Maxwell was the Sooners’ ace all along.

But the dominance she showed regularly for the Cowgirls has often been missing at OU.

“There’s so many negatives coming,” Gasso said. “It just is. It’s everywhere. The conversation was really faith-based. Just hand it over to the Lord and let Him guide you, just be free.”

Maxwell not only struck out Brady to begin the game but followed with another strikeout, this time of Jadelyn Allchin.

She kept the Bruins guessing with a steady diet of off-speed stuff.

“It’s really important whenever you’re playing a team like UCLA,” Maxwell said. “I mean, they have really good hitters top to bottom. You’ve always got to keep them off-balance and change your timing.”

The seven-inning shutout was just the second of the season for Maxwell (21-2).

The Bruins managed just two hits, both singles.

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UCLA’s best scoring chance came in the third, after Maxwell hit Thessa Malau’ulu and walked Janelle Meono to start the inning.

But Maxwell struck out Brady, got Allchin on an infield fly and then struck out Sharlize Palacios

“Sometimes it’s not your day,” Brady said. “Sometimes it’s the pitcher’s day. She came up with a lot of good pitches.”

UCLA put two on in the sixth to at least give Brady another at-bat in the seventh, but Maxwell retired the side in order to stretch OU’s NCAA Tournament winning streak to 20, extending their own record.

“God is good …,” Maxwell said, bringing up the conversation with Gasso earlier in the day. “I just put it all out there today.”

Maxwell needed 116 pitches to get through the victory.

“Kelly decided to throw one of the best games of her life today,” Gasso said. “There was no way we would be pulling her after the job she was doing.”

Here are two other quick takeaways from the Sooners’ win:

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Tiare Jennings gives Sooners offense they needed

UCLA starter Kaitlyn Terry mostly mowed down OU’s high-powered offense.

But Tiare Jennings gave Terry a ride in the third to put the Sooners ahead.

Bruins’ center fielder Meono tracked Jennings’ high fly to lead off the inning to the wall and leaped, crashing down to the warning track and leaving many wondering for a moment if it was a home run or Meono had made a highlight-reel catch.

But Meono hung her head and the umpire quickly signaled a home run as the Sooners poured out of their dugout in celebration.

The home run was Jennings’ ninth career WCWS home run.

Jennings entered the day already in second place in WCWS history, behind only former teammate Jocelyn Alo. Alo hit 12 career WCWS home runs.

The RBI extended Jennings’ WCWS record to 30.

“It kind of feels like Jocelyn Alo at times,” Gasso said. “When she comes up, you know something good is going to happen, especially on these big stages.”

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Alynah Torres leaves game

With one out and runners at first and second in the third, Allchin sent a towering fly ball over the infield.

OU second baseman Alynah Torres camped under it, but lost the ball near the end.

It crashed into Torres’ face, shattering her sunglasses.

The ball bounced all the way into four territory, where it was fielded by Sooners’ catcher Kinzie Hansen.

While umpires immediately signaled the infield fly call, there was some confusion as runners advanced a base, Meono raced toward third and Allchin remained at first.

Hansen held onto the ball as Meono scrambled back to second without a throw.

Torres was replaced by Avery Hodge at second and Maxwell struck out Palacios to end the Bruins’ threat.

Gasso said Torres' status for the rest of the WCWS was up in the air.

"She got it pretty good," Gasso said. "Definitely could not go back in the game. She's getting medical attention from our great doctors. We'll see if she'll be available. ... Hopefully she can get back in, but I'm not sure yet."

Soon after, Jennings put the Sooners ahead.

"I knew I was just going to be confident in myself," Jennings said. "Alynah went down. Now, I just got to get this party started. Just hit the ball hard. Don't try to hit it out or nothing."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball beats UCLA to reach WCWS semifinals on Kelly Maxwell gem