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Kasidi Pickering of the Oklahoma Sooners hits a two-run home run against the Texas Longhorns during the championship final of the 2024 NCAA Women’s College World Series at OGE Energy Field at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Thursday.
CNN
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The University of Oklahoma Sooners captured a victory over the Texas Longhorns on Thursday night to become the first NCAA Division I softball team to win four consecutive Women’s College World Series national championships.
Soon the players rushed the pitching circle after an 8-4 victory in Game 2 of the best-of-three series. At Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the crowd cheered the players as they dogged each other.
Soon-to-be head coach Patty Casso, now tied for the most national championships as a head coach in NCAA Division I softball, called the team’s accomplishment “unbelievable.”
After going up 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Longhorns clawed their way back into the game following an infield hit by third baseman Mia Scott to make it a one-run game.
However, Sooners outfielder Jayda Coleman scored just one run in the top of the sixth to extend the lead to two. Later in the inning, Ella Parker sealed the deal with a two-run single.
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The Oklahoma Sooners celebrate after defeating the Texas Longhorns on Thursday in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Oklahoma pitcher Kelly Maxwell ended the game in the top of the seventh inning. She retired all three batters, including striking out the Longhorns’ Katie Stewart at third to seal the Sooners’ fourth straight NCAA title.
Kaso credits the show’s hard work ethic to its success.
“We’re doing it in a blue-collar fashion,” Gaso told the ESPN broadcast. “We fight, we’re brutal. There’s nothing we can’t win, and that’s why we go out and play freely. … It was the hardest of all, and without question, it’s going to be remembered the most for what these guys have done.
Gaso added that four straight title wins for the program is “hard to believe.”
The win gives No. 2 Oklahoma its eighth title in program history and ties it with the University of Arizona for the second all-time championship. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) holds the record with 12 titles.
