A wild weekend of college softball between arguably the biggest rivals in the country, rivals that happen to be the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the country, capped with its nuttiest and most entertaining game of the series Sunday.
No. 3 Oklahoma beat No. 2 Texas, 9-8, in the finale to take the series in a sweep. Dating back to last season, the Sooners have won six straight against the Longhorns. Isabella Emerling’s sacrifice fly in the sixth proved the reason why.
The Sooners’ catcher knocked in Nelly McEnroe-Marinas from third base with a sac fly to centerfield with the bases loaded and no outs in the inning. Tia Malloy was thrown out at second trying to advance, resulting in a double play, and Abigale Dayton struck out after Emerling to end the inning, but the damage was done.
Sam Landry took the circle to attempt to finish off the complete game and retired three of the four batters she faced – walking one – to earn her second win of the series.
For half of the game, the outcome didn’t appear in doubt.
Oklahoma jumped out to an 8-0 lead after three innings. Ella Parker hit a two-run home run in the first. Gabbie Garcia hit a three-run homer in the second. Cydney Sanders scored on a passed ball, Dayton hit an RBI single, and Garcia popped another RBI single, all in the third, to break things open.
That was Texas’ cue to wake up. The Longhorns plated six runs in the fourth as the first seven batters reached in the top of the inning.
Isabella Smith was perfect through the first nine batters she faced, but after a leadoff single in the top fo the fourth, Patty Gasso went to freshman pitcher Audrey Lowery. Lowery, who’s battled injuries throughout her true freshman campaign, didn’t record an out. She walked the first batter and allowed four straight singles before she was pulled for Paytn Monticelli. Monticelli gave up a single, induced a fielder’s choice, and allowed another single before Landry, Oklahoma’s ace, came on to settle things down.
Landry gave up a two-run home run in the sixth that tied the game, but the Sooners answered back in the bottom half of the sixth to earn the sweep.
The sweep allowed the Sooners to re-take the lead in the Southeastern Conference standings, holding an advantage over Texas A&M. Oklahoma has just one regular-season series left, at Florida next weekend, before the SEC Tournament in Athens, Georgia.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma Sooners complete three-game sweep of Texas Longhorns