OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s run of four straight Women’s College World Series titles ended when Lauren Allred’s walk-off sacrifice fly gave Texas Tech a 3-2 victory in the semifinals on Monday night.
Coach Patty Gasso’s Sooners (52-9) were down to their last strike in the top of the seventh inning when Abigale Dayton summoned a bit of magic, hitting a tying two-run homer off Red Raiders ace NiJaree Canady. It was just her third longball of the season.
But the Red Raiders (53-12) responded quickly in the bottom half. Mihyia Davis singled with one out and Hailey Toney followed with a double. Allred hit a fly ball to right field and Sydney Barker’s throw to the plate was wide, allowing Davis to score easily.
“Congratulations to Texas Tech,” Gasso said. “They earned that. They played well. They hit well. They pitched well. So well deserved.”
Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco recounted how he told his team to refocus after giving up the lead.
“We don’t want it to be easy,” he said. “It’s Oklahoma. You knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Let’s go to work right here, win this right here in the bottom of the seventh.”
Texas Tech, in its first trip to the WCWS, will play Texas in the best-of-three championship series starting Wednesday. The Longhorns reached the finals for the third time in the past four years. They lost to Oklahoma in 2022 and 2024.
Sam Landry, the No. 1 overall pick in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League draft, took the complete-game loss. Glasco was Landry’s coach at Louisiana last season, and Allred and Davis followed Glasco from Louisiana to Texas Tech.
Glasco and Landry embraced after the game.
“It’s bittersweet,” Landry said. “I wished him luck going forward. Neither one of us wanted to be where we met in the postseason. Super happy for them. That’s a lot of my old teammates. I’m glad they’re getting to experience it.”
Canady lost the shutout but got the win. She is the two-time reigning National Fastpitch Coaches Association Pitcher of the Year and was the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year last season. Formerly with Stanford, she signed a name, image and likeness deal worth more than $1 million to go to Texas Tech.
Canady reached her first finals after leading Stanford to the semifinals the previous two years.
“I think people doubted us, didn’t think we’d get to this point,” she said. “I think we just didn’t have any pressure on us, just wanted to go play softball.”
Oklahoma had won nine straight elimination games, but the Sooners had lost the core of the team that won the previous championships. Their roster featured nine freshmen and just three seniors.
Gasso said the future looks bright for the Sooners.
“We’re standing at the World Series as one of the top three teams left, with a team of 14 newcomers,” Gasso said, “and I just shared with them in the locker room how much fun I had with them coaching them, watching them grow, watching them be hungry, watching them never quit.”
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