Today is for determining the two finalists in the Women's College World Series...
OKLAHOMA-TEXAS TECH
Even with Sooner magic making its presence, the Queens of College Softball are dead, long live the Queens... Texas Tech makes the championship round versus the University of Texas...
Texas Tech leading Oklahoma 2-0 on a walk, triple, and single in B2... Same score, heading to B4... Leadoff double to left from TTU's Alana Johnson... Bunted to third, one out... K for second out... Another K for third out... T5 for OU... Sydney Barker with leadoff single to left-center that lands just away from Tech fielders... Pop for one out... Fly-out to warning track in left for second out... Easy fly to left to end T5... B5, with one out, Red Raiders get runner on first on hard one-hopper to first that bounces off 1B-person. Called an error... Ground single to left, runner on first and second... NiJaree Canady, pitching a shutout thus far, now at bat... Per ESPN, Canady has three HR this year in the postseason... Grounds into 6-4-3 double play to end inning... Still 2-0 Tech... Six outs left for OU and its four-year WCWS title streak! Hard line single to center to start T6... K for first out... Deep pop to 2B-person for second out... Slugger Cydney Sanders at the plate... Swinging for the fences for second strike, 0-2 count... Steal of second... Count on Sanders now 2-2... Next pitch freezes Sanders, K looking and Sooners retired... B6, first two Raiders retired, looked like a quick inning on routine grounder to short, but throw to first ruled to have pulled 1B-person off bag. OU challenge denied... Easy grounder to pitcher ending TTU B6, so previous error ends up not mattering... Make or break time for Sooners, three outs to save their championship streak, needing at least two runs! Per ESPN, Sooners have not been shut out in six years (337 games)! Ailana Agbayani leading off T7 for OU... Grounder back to Canady, one out... Barker at the plate, 2-for-2 tonight... Make it 3-for-3, as Barker bloops a single to right... Isabela Emerling next to bat... Grounder to Canady, gets force at second... Last chance for OU... Abigale Dayton coming up... OU fans wondering if there's one last ounce of Sooner magic, like we've seen over the years... 0-2 count... Foul ball... I can't believe it, but yes there is Sooner magic, a two-run blast to right, tying the game 2-2 (video)... 3-1 count to next batter... Full count... K to end T7... B7, ground-out for first out... Mihyia Davis single for TTU... Hailey Toney, with some clutch hits this postseason, doubles deep to left off the wall... Davis, apparently waiting to see if ball would be caught, only gets to third... Lauren Allred coming up... Sac-fly to right scores winning run, 3-2 Tech...
Tonight, Texas Tech will try to duplicate Texas's feat of going undefeated into the championship round. It won't be easy, however, as the Red Raiders face four-time defending champion Oklahoma... Texas Tech has the advantage of only needing to beat OU once (due to the Sooners' previous loss to Texas), whereas Oklahoma will have to beat Tech twice... Interesting article about OU pitcher Sam Landry, who pitched for three years at Louisiana under coach Gerry Glasco, before he left for Texas Tech and she transferred to Oklahoma... Landry and Glasco embrace after the game...
TENNESSEE-TEXAS
We have our first finalist, the University of Texas, who shut out Tennessee, 2-0, in today's early game. The Vols had lost earlier in the tournament to Oklahoma, so today's loss to Texas is Tennessee's second, resulting in elimination. Texas advances undefeated to the two-of-three championship round, having beaten Florida, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. In today's game, the Longhorns scored on a Katie Stewart solo homer in B4 (video) and on a two-out airmailed throw to first on a routine grouder in B6 (video)...