By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer
Oklahoma wins record fourth straight NCAA softball title
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma slugged its way to a record fourth straight NCAA softball title, getting a go-ahead, bases-clearing double from Cydney Sanders and beating Texas 8-4 on Thursday night for a two-game sweep of the Women’s College World Series championship.
The Sooners won their eighth title overall, all under coach Patty Gasso, and moved into a tie with Arizona for the second-most national championships behind UCLA’s 12.
Second-seeded Oklahoma (59-7) scored eight runs in each of the two games and pounded 21 hits total against a top-seeded Texas team that came in having thrown three consecutive one-hit shutouts in the World Series.
Kasidi Pickering hit a two-run homer in the second inning for the Sooners, and Ella Parker had a two-run single in the sixth that padded Oklahoma’s lead. Gasso used five pitchers, with ace Kelly Maxwell, an Oklahoma State transfer, getting the last four outs for the save a day after her complete-game victory in Game 1.
Texas (55-10) still hasn’t won a national title. The Longhorns lost to the Sooners in the 2022 championship series. This year, Texas won the Big 12 regular-season title, but Oklahoma beat the Longhorns in the Big 12 tournament.
Both programs are leaving the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference next season.
