No. 1 Oklahoma, which rarely loses (one loss all of last season and one loss so far this season), will now be batting in the top of the seventh, trailing No. 5 Texas, 2-1, on ESPN. It looked like the Longhorns had scored a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 4-1 but, as described below, a Texas baserunning error negated the two runs.
Longhorns' center-fielder Kayden Henry makes an amazing catch (video), rushing in on a hard, but rapidly sinking, liner for the first out of the seventh inning... Ground-out to third for second out... 0-2 count on Kinzie Hansen... Hansen singles up the middle on 1-2 count... Pinch-runner to first... Rylie Boone up... Boone drives one over the center-fielder's head, giving Sooners a chance to score the tying run... Strong throw and relay to plate allow catcher to tag OU runner out (video)... Oklahoma claims obstruction by catcher, but umps uphold original call of "out," ending the game. What a dramatic finish, as UT wins 2-1... I concur with one of the television announcers that the catcher only blocked the runner after receiving the throw, which would be legal...
As for Texas losing two runs in the bottom of the sixth, the play began with the bases loaded and none out. The Longhorns' Katie Stewart drove the ball to the wall in right, scoring two and seemingly making it 4-1 UT... OU challenged the play, however, claiming the runner on second had left the base before the pitch had been released. The umps agreed that the runner left early.
Not knowing the rulebook inside and out, I would have thought that the run scored by the runner coming from third would still have counted, but the runner from second would have been declared out and her run erased. The runner from first could have been allowed to remain at second, with the batter remaining at first. And I would have been wrong!
As best I could understand the application of the rule, the early departure of the runner from second immediately created a dead-ball situation. The runner from second was declared out and everyone else went back to where they were before Stewart hit the ball: Stewart had to hit again and the runners who started the play at first and third had to return to their respective bases. Texas still had a great chance to score with two on and one out, but a pop-up and (after a walk reloaded the bases) ground-out prevented any further scoring.
As described above, this game featured many exciting, potentially decisive plays. In the end, however, most people will probably remember only the OU runner being thrown out at the plate.