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Parker blasts walk-off homer, Oklahoma gets past Pickens, Tennessee

Screenshot 2024-07-31 at 7.46.34 PMby:Brady Vernon•05/29/25•

BradyVernon

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Crash Kamon/Softball America

Karlyn Pickens against Ella Parker with the game on the line. Television couldn’t have scripted it better. But as we’ve seen many times in Oklahoma City, Sooner magic won out. Parker blasted her second home run of the game, a three-run walk-off blast against the flamethrower, as the Sooners beat the Lady Vols 4-3.

Tennessee had a great start to the game. Gabby Leach and Taylor Pannell opened the game with back-to-back hits versus Sam Landry. A passed ball allowed the first run of the game to score.

It seemed Landry was in line to limit the damage. She struck out Ella Dodge after falling behind 3-0. Landry jumped on Sophia Nugent with two straight strikes. Nugent did enough to lift a sacrifice fly in 0-2 to bring home the second run.

Tennessee gained a much-needed insurance run in the third. McKenna Gibson lofted a ball to left field for what appeared to be the final out of the frame. However, Kasidi Pickering dropped the ball and it allowed Dodge to score from first base, narrowly beating a great throw from Abigale Dayton.

Ella Dodge slides under the tag (Crash Kamon/Softball America)

Tennessee had the chance to break it open in the seventh. Landry allowed a hit and a pair of walks to load the bases for Nugent. Landry got the Lady Vols catcher to roll into the third double play of the game. In the end, Tennessee didn’t make the most of their scoring chances, 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

“They believe, and I believe, defense wins championships,” Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso said. “And we had our backs against the wall, and we’re rolling double plays to get out of it and keeping ourselves in the game. Coach Rocha is coming over asking, I don’t know, I think we might need to make a change. And we’re just — a lot of things just keep us within two runs, and the defense did that.

“Uncharacteristic mistake with (Pickering), and she would tell you that. I know she didn’t feel great about that. But the infield and Hannah Coor’s play was an absolute momentum changer, and that really saved the game for us because they were about ready to go off. Those guys swing really, really well. But these prime-time defensive plays brought momentum into our dugout.”

Oklahoma and Ella Parker quickly answered back in the first. Parker lined her 14th home run of the season to right field.

Pickens responded well. She struck out six batters in the first four innings compared to two hits. Pickens got herself into a sticky situation in the fifth. She allowed a leadoff walk to eight-hole hitter Isabela Emerling and threw three straight balls to Dayton. Another walk would’ve put two on for the top of the Oklahoma order. Pickens came back to make it a full count to Dayton and induced a fielder’s choice. She retired both Pickering and Parker to maintain the two-run lead.

The Sooners finally broke through in the seventh with Parker’s blast, thanks to an Ailana Agbayani leadoff walk and single from Pickering. Oklahoma made Pickens work, throwing 129 pitches.

“Yeah, well, our preparation is almost ridiculous,” Gasso said. “We’re putting up the machines at like 80 miles per hour. A machine can’t even pitch that hard. So we’re trying a little bit of everything. We were really trying to stay off the ball up and stay off the change-ups and just really try to attack early, early, early in the count. We drew some important walks, but I’ve not seen, nor have they seen, speed like this except from her. So it is tough. It’s hard to train for.

“Ella. I call her a professional hitter. She’s got a beautiful, pure swing, and she knows how to get there short. She can handle. She’s someone Pick can handle that speed. A couple others can, and others were trying to. So it just timed up perfect timing, and that’s just the blessings that we continue to get on this platform. It’s amazing.”

The win allows Landry, who threw 139 pitches, to have a day of rest. She allowed eight hits and four walks, but the double plays helped limit the damage each time.

Oklahoma will play Texas on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET on ABC. Tennessee takes on Florida on Friday at 7 p.m. ET in an elimination game.

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