The Big 12 regular-season title is on the line this weekend, as the nation's No. 1 team, Oklahoma (40-1, 14-0), travels to Stillwater to take on No. 7 Oklahoma State (39-6, 14-1). I'll chime in with score updates and other observations.
UPDATE 1: Cowgirls take Friday's series opener, 6-4. The Sooners had won an amazing 57 straight Big 12 regular-season games before this loss.
UPDATE 2: Sooners go up 2-0 in top of third on Saturday, but can't convert second and third with one out into any more runs. Airing on ESPN... Top 5: OU's Lynnsie Elam with a bases-loaded, two-out single to make it 4-0. No further damage, going to OSU half of the fifth... An errant Sooner throw to first base on a Cowgirl bunt scores runner from first and lands batter on third base. Sac fly cuts OSU deficit to 4-2... Nicole Mendes solo shot makes it 5-2 Sooners, top 6... Cowgirls down to their final three outs, trailing 6-2... Still a ways to go, but OSU has combined a lead-off homer, a hit-by-pitch, and a walk into a mini-threat, trailing 6-3... Wild-pitch (or passed-ball) advances Cowgirl runners to second and third... Walk loads the bases... Two straight fly-outs, one scoring a run, 6-4 OU... K ends the ballgame.
UPDATE 3: Three Cowgirl infield errors in the top of the second help Sooners take 6-0 lead in Sunday's series finale. Per ESPN announcers, all six runs unearned... Leadoff double leads to one run for OSU in bottom of second, now 6-1 OU... Sooners make it 9-1 on Nicole Mendes's opposite-field three-run homer, top 3...
Cowgirls' Kiley Naomi clubs a two-run homer to left-center to cut deficit to 9-3, bottom 3... Alysen Febrey pulls a two-run blast to right for OSU in bottom of the third, now 9-5 OU... Cowgirls still batting with none out in bottom of third, runners on first and second... K for first out... Walk loads the bases for OSU, bringing -- believe it or not -- the tying run to the plate in what once was a 9-1 game! Bases-loaded walk gives OSU another run, now 9-6 OU... Sooners record fielder's-choice force at home for second out... Naomi, in second plate-appearance of inning, walks to give Cowgirls another run (9-7); looked like OU was pitching around Naomi... New OU pitcher Nicole May, after throwing three straight balls to Chyenne Factor, gets strikeout to finally end third inning...
Tiare Jennings with solo shot to up OU's lead to 10-7, top 4... Hayley Busby with her own solo shot for OSU in bottom of fourth, making it 10-8... Sooners add a run in the top of the fifth and its all quiet thereafter, for an 11-8 OU win... The Sooners' 16-1 Big 12 mark edges out the Cowgirls' 15-3, giving OU its ninth straight regular-season conference championship...