Oklahoma routs Mississippi State, forces winner-take-all Game 3 in Norman Super Regional
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Oklahoma wasn’t about to let its dreams of another national championship go up in smoke, at least not on Saturday in front of its Norman faithful.
The Sooners were stunned late by Mississippi State in Game 1 of the Norman Super Regional on Friday to fall into a 1-0 hole and suddenly faced elimination on Saturday. Oklahoma, which has won all 8 of its national championships since the year 2000 and captured 4 straight national titles from 2021-24, is still alive for that 9th crown this century after taking down the Bulldogs, 7-1, in Game 2.
The No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament scored all 7 of its runs in the third inning as the designated visiting team in its home park. The offensive outburst and some solid pitching helped the Sooners (52-9) set up a winner-take-all Game 3 on Sunday, when the SEC rivals will battle for a spot in the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. The time and TV designation of Sunday’s game has yet to be determined.
What Oklahoma did determine on Saturday was that it wasn’t going down easily in its pursuit of its 10th straight trip to the WCWS.
Sooners left-hander Audrey Lowry shut down Mississippi State (42-19) on Saturday after struggling against the Bulldogs in Friday’s loss. She bounced back by allowing 1 run on 5 hits, walking 2 and striking out 2 in a complete-game masterpiece. Lowry threw 87 pitches and got plenty of run support from her teammates, all during that third-inning eruption.
Freshman Lexi McDaniel had the big blow for OU, smacking a pinch-hit, 3-run home run to left field to cap the scoring flurry and give the Sooners a comfortable 7-0 lead. McDaniel has made a habit of the pinch-hit homer this season, with Saturday’s being her fourth of the season.
Lowry’s only big mistake of the afternoon came in the sixth inning, when she walked in what would be the Bulldogs’ only run of the game.
Another Oklahoma freshman, Kai Minor, went 2 for 4 with a double and a triple, registering her 29th multi-hit game this season. And yet another Sooners freshman, Kendall Wells, went 1 for 4 with an RBI, as Oklahoma cruised to a season-saving victory that merely sets up another season-saving opportunity on Sunday.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
