College Softball World Series 2024: Oklahoma Wins Game 1 vs. Texas, Eyes 8th Title

Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacekFeatured Columnist IVJune 6, 2024

Brendall O’Banon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

Oklahoma continues to rule the college softball world.

The Sooners defeated archrival Texas 8-3 in Wednesday’s Game 1 of the 2024 Women’s College World Series final. They are now one victory away in the best-of-three series from their fourth consecutive national title, eighth overall championship and sixth in the last eight years.

Home runs from Tiare Jennings, Kinzie Hansen and Kasidi Pickering spearheaded the offense, while Kelly Maxwell allowed three runs, five hits and four walks while striking out eight in a complete-game win.

Oklahoma looked the part of an ongoing dynasty in Game 1, but Texas entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 overall seed. ESPN’s Bill Connelly also noted the Longhorns became the first Big 12 team since 2011 to win a series against the Sooners during the regular season, although Oklahoma earned some revenge with a win in the Big 12 tournament.

And that revenge continued right out of the gates in Wednesday’s matchup.

It was 2-0 Sooners just two batters into the game thanks to Jennings’ two-run blast off Texas starter Teagan Kavan. Jennings’ homer was just the start of the offensive fireworks, as back-to-back long balls from Hansen and Pickering in the third chased Kavan from the game.

Oklahoma Softball @OU_Softball🤯 @_tiarejennings absolutely crushed her 11th career WCWS home run 👊#ChampionshipMindset | @espn pic.twitter.com/orKm9OoLqf

Oklahoma Softball @OU_SoftballBARK BARK 🐶💣

📺 @espn #ChampionshipMindset | @kinziehansen pic.twitter.com/o77iBquSrF

Oklahoma Softball @OU_SoftballKP sent this place into a FRENZY 🗣️

📺 @espn#ChampionshipMindset | @PickeringKasidi pic.twitter.com/Tzk7odOgoY

Rodger Sherman @rodgerOklahoma softball’s “what if we hit a ton of dingers” strategy continues to work

While Texas got a run in the first with a solo homer from Mia Scott, it was quickly 5-1 in favor of the reigning champions.

With that run support behind her, Maxwell was able to consistently work herself out of trouble created by some control concerns and walks. Timely strikeouts helped, as did inducing weak contact on a number of occasions.

Any Longhorns mistakes were going to be amplified against Maxwell and the powerful Oklahoma offense, which they learned the hard way. Second baseman Alyssa Washington’s throwing error in the fifth led to a run, as did an RBI single from Jennings after Texas catcher Reese Atwood lost track of outs and allowed Avery Hodge to move to third in the sixth.

Atwood’s throwing error in the seventh also allowed the Sooners to score an insurance run.

Those mistakes proved even more critical when Texas clawed back to 7-3 in the sixth, but Maxwell’s biggest strikeout of the game ended the threat with two runners on.

The result was a foregone conclusion from there, and the Longhorns must win Thursday’s Game 2 to preserve their season.