OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma needs just one more win to make college softball history.
Tiare Jennings’ two-run homer in the first inning sparked an 8-3 win over rival Texas on Wednesday night, leaving the Sooners one victory short of a record fourth straight Women’s College World Series title.
No. 2 Oklahoma (58-7) had nine hits and three home runs against the No. 1 Longhorns (55-9), who had thrown three one-hit shutouts in their three games at this year’s WCWS before the start of the best-of-three title series Wednesday night.
Sooners coach Patty Gasso said the plan was to score early in hopes of helping pitcher Kelly Maxwell, who had thrown a complete game the previous day in an elimination game against Florida. Gasso felt the senior might need some support, and she certainly got it.
“It’s something that we really talked about, is trying to set the tone, give Kelly an opportunity to get settled,” Gasso said. “Very, very important. It was a goal of ours. They checked a lot of boxes tonight.”
Jennings had two hits and three RBIs, and Kinzie Hansen added two hits, including a two-run homer, for the Sooners, who could clinch the program’s eighth championship Thursday night in the second game of the title series.
Oklahoma was calm after the first game.
“You see us here, and we’re not overjubilant because we know there’s still a lot of work to do against a very, very good team that has very good pitchers, very good hitters,” Gasso said. “I mean, we know what’s in front of us still. So you don’t see us celebrating. There’s still a lot of work to do.”
Mia Scott hit a solo homer for Texas, which played as the home team, but there weren’t many more highlights. Now the Longhorns will embrace the role of underdog.
“It’s a mind game,” Texas coach Mike White said. “Champions reframe. How can we reframe from this loss, what we’re facing right now, come out and have a better game and see if we can play some good softball?”
It was another chapter in the storied rivalry between the programs, which will both leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference next month. Oklahoma beat Texas in the WCWS title matchup in 2022. The Longhorns won the Big 12 regular-season title this year, but the Sooners won the conference tournament.
The Sooners played Tuesday while the Longhorns had the day off, but Maxwell negated any edge the rest might have provided for Texas. A day after tossing 148 pitches against Florida, Maxwell threw 119 against the Longhorns, gave up one earned run and four hits and struck out eight batters.
“This is it,” Maxwell said. “This is my last opportunity. I’m just going to do everything I can to keep this team in it. I know that they have my back and I’ve got theirs.”
Star freshman Teagan Kavan had thrown two one-hitters for Texas in WCWS victories, but she opened Wednesday’s game by hitting Jayda Coleman with a pitch. Jennings, the next batter, launched one over the fence in left field to put the Sooners up 2-0. It was the 98th home run of Jennings’ career and her 11th at the WCWS.
Hansen’s two-run homer and Kasidi Pickering’s solo shot that immediately followed gave the Sooners a 5-1 lead in the third inning and chased Kavan from the circle.
“It snowballed a little bit there,” Longhorns senior Joley Mitchell said. “We have to do our job individually and as a team. We got away from our plan. We weren’t helping ourselves. We really need to stick to our plan and just play Texas softball.”
Texas scored two runs in the sixth, then had two runners on with two outs when Maxwell struck out Victoria Hunter swinging to keep Oklahoma ahead 7-3. Maxwell struck out the final two batters in the seventh to close out the game.
Now the Sooners will try to close out a Texas team that has rallied before. The Longhorns lost the first game in the regular-season series with Oklahoma and won the last two. They also lost the first game of their super regional against Texas A&M, then won the next two and advanced to Oklahoma City for the second time in three years.
“We’re a tough team,” Mitchell said. “As long as we stay together, do the job, we’ll be just fine the next two games.”