Oklahoma topples Texas, 5-1, wins final Big 12 championship game for Sooners, Longhorns
Oklahoma, once again, has won the Big 12 title in softball. And this time the Sooners won the Big 12 tournament championship in Red River fashion, toppling rival Texas, 5-1.
It’s a second consecutive tournament title for the Sooners. It’s also the ninth — and what will be final — Big 12 title for Oklahoma as the squad heads into the SEC after this season.
Oklahoma jumped on Texas and starting pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez almost immediately, putting the first two batters of the game on base and scoring a pair of runs in the top of the 1st inning, a lead that the Sooners didn’t relinquish.
Texas clawed a run back on an RBI triple in the bottom of the 2nd inning, but the Sooners responded with another brace of runs in the top of the 3rd inning and another one in the top of the 4th.
“They look like they’re fighting, whether it’s on the mound or their at bats,” Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso said on the ESPN2 broadcast in the 3rd inning. “The way they answered that run was big time. So I love their energy and I love what they’re doing.”
And the Sooners offense was aided by uncharacteristic lapses from the Longhorns. Not only was Oklahoma finding hits and working counts, but Texas committed a pair of early errors among a handful of miscues.
And outside of the one triple she gave up in the 2nd inning, Oklahoma starting pitcher Kelly Maxwell was lights out through 5.1 innings of work, but did leave a pair of runners on 1st and 2nd base, respectively. She surrendered just two hits and struck out seven while giving up the one run.
Gasso gave the ball to senior pitcher Nicole May, who navigated the situation deftly, getting out of the 6th inning with no runs allowed and getting the final three outs in the 7th.
Saturday night will be the last time either Oklahoma or Texas play in the Big 12 championship, as both programs are headed to the SEC later in the summer.
But despite it being the end of an era, Gasso is hyper-focused on the task at hand.
“I’m all about the game. I’ve said it — the Big 12, Big 8 is where I started,” Gasso said during the game. “So I’ve been in this conference for 30 years. I will feel it when it’s over, but I can’t get caught up in that stuff right now.”