Oklahoma softball’s path for a fifth consecutive Women’s College World Series national championship looked to include the elimination bracket.
Ella Parker then changed that.
Down to the last out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Parker connected a 0-1 fastball from Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens and sailed it over the centerfield wall at Devon Park in Oklahoma City to give the Sooners a 4-3 win over the Volunteers in the opening round of the WCWS on Thursday.
‘Going into it, I knew our fourth man was in fire. This team has done so much. We just battled and battled and battled. Just knowing that our fourth man was with us, I’m so emotional,’ Parker told ESPN’s Holly Rowe after her walk-off home run.
‘I was just doing whatever to stay loose and pass the bat to my next teammate,’ Parker told Rowe on what she saw on Pickens’ pitch. ‘Nothing else, just keeping it simple.’
The Volunteers got to Sooners ace Sam Landry early in the top of the first inning with back-to-back hits to put runners on second and third with no outs. Tennessee plated its first run in the inning on a passed ball that got away from OU catcher Isabela Emerling, which allowed Gabby Leach to score from third.
Tennessee extended its lead to 2-0 in the first when former Sooner Sophia Nugent brought in Taylor Pannell on a sacrifice fly. The Vols’ 2-0 lead was short-lived, as Oklahoma quickly responded in the home half of the inning with a solo home run to right by Parker.
Aggressiveness in the third inning helped extend Tennessee’s lead to 3-1, when Ella Dodge scored from second on a misplayed ball in left field by Oklahoma left fielder Kasidi Pickering.
The Volunteers had an opportunity to break the game open in the top of the seventh inning when Nugent came up to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. However, Nugent would ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the rally.
Then in the bottom of the seventh, Pickens, who holds the NCAA softball record for the fastest pitch at 79.4 mph, the Sooners began their rally with Ailana Agbayani working a four-pitch walk. Agbayani was then brought around to third on a single up the middle from Pickering that got under the glove of Dodge at second base.
Parker’s heroics in the seventh inning staved off numerous pieces of history for Oklahoma, most notably becoming the first defending national champion to lose its opening round game since 2018, which happened to also be the Sooners.
Oklahoma will now take on No. 6 Texas on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET in the ‘winners’ bracket’ of the WCWS in what will be a rematch of last year’s WCWS championship series. The Longhorns shut out No. 3 Florida by a score of 3-0 in the opening game of the 2025 WCWS on Thursday..
(This story was updated with new information)