OU softball makes history, earns fourth straight national championship

OKLAHOMA CITY – The four-peat is real for OU softball. It happened. In one of the unlikelier ways in the championship clincher, it happened.

Head coach Patty Gasso has always said her club is able to win without one of the players. But it will only win because of all of them.

The army of 21.

That army showed up in so many different ways because when you’re trying to make history? You need everyone.

And everyone showed up for OU in an 8-4 victory against No. 1 Texas in the Women’s College World Series on Thursday night at OGE Field at Devon Park.

The second-ranked Sooners sweep the best-of-three against the Longhorns and claim the fourth straight national championship.

But how they did it will be talked about. And how Gasso navigated the season, this series just adds to her ridiculous legacy.

Gasso said it couldn’t just be the seniors, couldn’t just be the captains. And it wasn’t.

It was a night for someone like Paytn Monticelli getting arguably the biggest out of the game.

Or a freshman like Kasidi Pickering giving the team the early boost.

Or Cydney Sanders, whose troubles have been well-documented in the last couple of months, providing the big hit.

A three-run bottom of the sixth (Jayda Coleman RBI, Ella Parker 2 RBI) to provide the insurance and allow for a little bit of a celebration. An army of 21 just helped OU to championship No. 8.

Texas scored one in the top of the second, and Pickering responded with a two-run home run. It was her fifth home run in the postseason.

Would it be Kelly Maxwell to start? No, not at all. Instead, it was Karlie Keeney who was given the ball. And when Keeney ran into trouble in the third, yep, Monticelli.

That’s how this game went. Everybody being called upon to do their part. OU used five pitchers, ending with Maxwell for the final four outs. Four outs she’ll remember for the rest of her life. Her first championship.

Maxwell threw 27 innings in five games, going 3-0 and getting the save to seal it Thursday.

Monticelli’s moment

Not sure anybody had Monticelli coming in for a big moment on the bingo card. But the moment didn’t get much bigger than this.

Bases loaded, two outs in the top of the third with the game tied 2-2. The sophomore transfer came through with a 3-2 count and a weak grounder to first base.

Sanders’ blast changes momentum

Texas did fight back, taking a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the fourth. Then it was time for Sanders to deliver the big blow.

With one out and bases loaded, Sanders cleared ‘em all with a three-run double. Sanders has been boom or bust, it feels like, all season. But that was a boom at just the right time.

Ol’ momentum was with OU the rest of the way, even after a strange top of the sixth that saw UT cut it to 5-4.

Four-year run

Add it all up, the four-season run? OU has gone 235-15 (winning 94 percent) with the four national championships. The Sooners finish this season at 59-7.

“This one is just different,” said Gasso on Feb. 5. “The expectation – winning four in a row is unheard of. Unheard of. You can’t even wrap your mind around it. Even winning three. For them, they want to be a team that did something that maybe nobody in maybe my lifetime will ever do on a softball field again.

“That is something special. They like to be able to chase those moments. We have to do it without thinking of outcome and results. We have to do it in a free manner, which is when they’re at their best.”

OU wasn’t always at its best. But when the Sooners came to Oklahoma City, they showed again, why they are who they are. And who they are? Still the best in college softball.