OKLAHOMA CITY — The stat spread around Devon Park like softball gospel.
Only 10% of the teams that have ever dropped their first game at the Women’s College World Series went on to win a national championship. Factor in a loss in Game 2 of the winner’s bracket, and that number increases only to 15%.
If Texas softball (52-11) needs any reminder about the importance of Saturday’s game against nemesis Oklahoma, those two numbers should do the trick. A loss won’t send the sixth-seeded Longhorns back home across the Red River because of the WCWS double-elimination format, but it would certainly dampen their hopes of winning a first national championship.
Beating the No. 3 Sooners (51-7) in their own backyard — about 30 minutes north of the Norman, Okla. campus — won’t be easy. Texas has dropped 25 consecutive games to the Sooners in the state of Oklahoma dating back to 2014, including all five matchups at the WCWS in 2022 and 2024. This season Texas was swept by the Sooners in Norman, although two of the losses came by just one run.
Secrets don’t exist between the two rivals who have competed in the same conference for three decades.
“They know our pitching staff inside and out, and we know theirs,” Texas coach Mike White said Thursday. “So, it’s going to come down to the team that executes the best.”
Oklahoma Sooners: Defending champs trying to hold onto crown
Record: 51-7, SEC first place, beat Tennessee 4-3 in Game 1 at WCWS
WCWS history: 54-24, 18th appearance, won championships in 2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024
Top hitters: Sophomore All-Americans Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering power a loaded lineup. Parker, who hit a walk-off three-run homer off Tennessee ace Karlyn Pickens on Thursday, leads the Sooners with a .418 average to go along with 15 homers and 53 runs batted in. Pickering boasts a .409 average with 18 homers and 56 RBIs.
Top pitcher: Sam Landry, a senior transfer from Louisiana, has emerged as the staff stalwart with a 24-4 record, a 1.88 ERA, 18 complete games and 172 strikeouts in 174⅔ innings. She gave up eight hits and one earned run in a complete-game effort against Tennessee.
Texas vs. Oklahoma: 27-64 all-time (last meeting: Oklahoma 9-8, April 27, 2025, in Norman)
Texas vs. Oklahoma softball: Quick hits
Both teams rank in the top 10 nationally in runs; Texas is fifth with 465 while Oklahoma is 10th with 446. The teams combined for a total of 39 runs in three games during their regular-season series in April. … Texas ace Teagan Kavan, who threw a complete-game shutout in the 3-0 win Thursday over Florida in Game 1, has struggled against OU. In her one game against the Sooners in last year’s WCWS championship series, she allowed five runs and five hits in 2⅓ innings. In this year’s SEC series, she allowed a total of 12 hits and 14 runs in 4⅓ innings. … LF Katie Stewart had the most success for Texas against Oklahoma this season, going 4-for-9 with three RBIs and three runs in the three games. … UT leadoff hitter Ashton Maloney went 0-for-3 against Florida and remains three hits shy of the school’s single-season record of 92 hits set by Janae Jefferson in 2022.
Saturday’s game
Texas (52-11) vs. Oklahoma (51-7), 2 p.m., ABC, 1300
WCWS schedule
Thursday’s results — (1) Texas 3, Florida 0; (2) Oklahoma 4, Tennessee 3; (3) Texas Tech 1, Ole Miss 0; (4) UCLA 4, Oregon 2. Friday’s games — (5) Florida vs. Tennessee, 7 p.m.; (6) Ole Miss vs. Oregon, 9:30 p.m. Saturday’s games — (7) Texas vs. Oklahoma, 2 p.m., ABC; (8) Texas Tech vs. UCLA, 7 p.m., ESPN. Sunday’s games — (9) Game 5 winner vs. Game 8 loser, 2 p.m., ABC; (10) Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 loser, 6 p.m., ESPNU
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas softball: What to know as Oklahoma, Longhorns meet at Women’s College World Series
Reporting by Thomas Jones, Austin American-Statesman / Austin American-Statesman
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
