Live Updates: Oklahoma Looks to Avenge Tennessee Loss to Open the WCWS

OKLAHOMA CITY — Follow along as Ryan Chapman offers his real-time observations from Devon Park as the 2-seeded Oklahoma Sooners open the Women’s College World Series against the 7-seeded Tennessee Volunteers. Just keep the browser open and refresh for Chapman’s updates throughout the contest.

4:31 p.m.

Clutchness. It works at Devon Park, too.

Ella Parker goes yard twice on Karlyn Pickens, the second a three-run walk off bomb.

The Sooners are unreal. Patty Gasso. JT Gasso. Parker. Pickering.

Unbelievable. Inevitable.

Oklahoma will take on Texas on Saturday at 2 p.m. on ABC. The winner of that game will have to lose twice on Monday to fail to reach the Championship Series.

4:28 p.m.

Pickering with a huge single through the right side. Agbayani gets all the way to third.

Runners are at the corners for Ella Parker. Drama!

4:27 p.m.

Dayton battles, but pops out.

Two outs, tying run at the plate in Kasidi Pickering. She’s 0-for-3 so far today and had an error that led to a Tennessee run.

4:24 p.m.

Emerling with a big swing-and-miss for the first out of the inning.

Abby Dayton is stepping up, and at the bare minimum she has to avoid a double play to get Pickering back to the plate.

4:23 p.m.

That’s the start the Sooners need.

Agbayani gets aboard with a four-pitch walk. Over to Emerling.

4:20 p.m.

OU’s middle infield has been so crisp today, easily the best part of today’s outing.

Gabbie Garcia flipped Nugent’s grounder to Ailana Agbayani and the second baseman rifled it to Cydney Sanders to turn the double play and keep Tennessee’s advantage to 3-1.

Now the Sooners have to score. Three outs to work with.

OU is slated to send Agbayani, Emerling and Dayton to the plate. Patty Gasso huddled the team together before this decisive frame, so no indication yet if the Sooners are preparing any pinch hitters.

4:15 p.m.

A pair of singles and a walk has the bases loaded for Tennessee with one out. Former OU catcher Sophia Nugent is up at the plate.

Jen Rocha is again headed out to talk this over with Landry.

She’s thrown 135 pitches and allowed eight hits and four walks.

Regardless of if she gets out of this jam, it will be fascinating to see what the decision in the circle would be if OU is unable to rally in the seventh.

Would Gasso throw Landry back out to face Florida tomorrow night, or trust Kierston Deal?

4:04 p.m.

Sydney Barker pops out to left and Cydney Sanders bounces back to Pickens.

The Volunteers can now try to add to their lead in the seventh, but with the bottom of the lineup due up, things look dire for the Sooners.

4:01 p.m.

McEnroe-Marinas thought she had a walk… It was not.

But Gabbie Garcia singled back up the middle so the Sooners have a one-out baserunner.

3:58 p.m.

Another great defensive moment there for the Sooners.

Landry got a full count strikeout, then McEnroe-Marinas was able to stop a hard-hit ball and dive back to the bag to ring up the force out.

Still just a two-run game for McEnroe-Marinas, Gabbie Garcia and Sydney Barker in the bottom of the sixth. Oklahoma’s freshmen will have to come through here to bring the top of the order back up in the seventh. Time to see if the “clutchness” Patty Gasso spoke of last Saturday came in the bus to Oklahoma City.

3:50 p.m.

Not quite the trek through the middle of the order Landry wanted so far.

Tennessee got a one-out walk on four pitches, then Laura Mealer singled to put runners on first and second.

Conference time with Jen Rocha and the OU infield.

3:43 p.m.

Parker flies out to left field and the Vols will take a 3-1 lead into the sixth.

Felt like that was the moment if OU was going to get back into it, but the Sooners still have six outs to work with.

Oklahoma has stranded four runners and Tennessee has stranded three, but the Volunteers have made all the crucial plays so far today.

3:40 p.m.

Another big moment for Pickens.

She battled out of a hole to get Dayton to ground into a fielder’s choice. The Vols almost turned two, but Dayton just beat the throw over to first.

Pickering then moved Dayton up to second with a groundout, but OU went from potentially having two aboard with no outs to a runner on second with two away.

But, it’s Ella Parker time. One swing of her bat could tie this game back up.

3:36 p.m.

The former Sooners are trying to breathe some life back into Devon Park.

Emerling started the fifth off with a walk, and after Pickens’ first offering to Dayton was a ball, Tennessee wanted to talk things over with the ace.

3:30 p.m.

Is that the moment to fire Oklahoma up?

Hannah Coor doubled off Taylor Pannell on a classic 8-3 decision.

The Sooners still trail 3-1 and have just nine outs to work with headed to the bottom of the fifth.

OU is slated to send Emerling, Dayton and Pickering to the plate. Pickens has already thrown 77 pitches.

3:20 p.m.

Agbayani can’t put any pressure on the Tennessee defense. She bounced out to first and the Volunteers will look to build on their 3-1 lead in the fifth.

3:18 p.m.

Karlyn Pickens fired back-to-back strikeouts, but veteran Cydney Sanders stayed patient to reach with a two-out walk.

Runners on first and second for Ailana Agbayani.

3:12 p.m.

McEnroe-Marinas draws a leadoff walk and the Sooners get their first true passionate bat toss of the day.

The OU alumni section is trying to get the crowd going. Gabbie Garcia is stepping in. She represents the game-tying run.

3:07 p.m.

Landry has done a nice job limiting the walks, it’s been two small moments from the defense that’s let her down.

Emerling’s passed ball in the first inning and Pickering’s error (the official scorer made a change) is truly the difference in this two-run ballgame.

The Vols drew one walk there in the fourth, but otherwise Landry was able to work around it and send the game to the bottom of the fourth with Tennessee up 3-1.

2:56 p.m.

Pickens mowed through Oklahoma in the third.

Dayton made her work for it, but a groundout by the OU centerfielder and Pickering.

Parker then struck out after launching her bomb in the first inning.

2:47 p.m.

Tennessee made all the plays on the margins in the regular season series between these two teams.

Kasidi Pickering drops a ball into left field on the run, and Abby Dayton’s throw home is a beat too late.

The Volunteers are up 3-1 after putting up a crucial two-out run. Not ruled an error, as it was a tough play for Pickering, but to win on this stage those are the plays OU’s defense expects to make.

2:37 p.m.

The Sooners were unable to do anything with Barker’s leadoff single, but OU’s hitters did do a nice job of making Pickens throw.

She’s at 38 pitches through two innings.

2:28 p.m.

Oklahoma got out of the inning without conceding another run. Put an asterisk on that as the Sooners avoided disaster and can go to work again on Pickens.

Landry has given up nine hits twice this year — once in the season opener against San Diego State and once in OU’s win over Florida on May 3, a game that went nine innings.

The Vols already have four hits through two innings.

Sydney Barker, Cydney Sanders and Ailana Agbayani are due up in the bottom of the second with Oklahoma trailing 2-1.

2:26 p.m.

Patty Gasso’s defense got to work to save a run.

Instead of taking the fielder’s choice at first and allowing another run to score, OU went home, worked through a run down and got the out at the plate.

Runners are again at second and third, but there are two away with Leach stepping up.

2:23 p.m.

The Vols have runners on second and third again.

Tennessee is sitting on Landry’s changeup and dropping balls into gaps all around the outfield.

Oklahoma has one away, but the double play is essentially off the board as 9-hole hitter Saviya Morgan steps in. Landry is going to have to battle the top of the lineup to get out of this frame unscathed.

2:21 p.m.

Parker’s bomb was only the seventh home run Pickens has given up all year.

Nebraska homered in the first game of the Knoxville Super Regional, but she kept all the balls in the park in the final two games against the Cornhuskers.

2:14 p.m.

Pickens responded from the homer by striking out Nelly McEnroe-Marinas and getting Gabbie Garcia to pop up, but getting a quick response from Parker can only be good news for a young Sooner squad.

2:11 p.m.

Hello, Ella Parker!

The standout sophomore hammers her 14th home run of the season into the front row in right field.

That was a bad miss by Pickens and Parker took her for a ride.

Even Kasidi Pickering’s lineout was good contact.

Sooners just down 2-1 with one away in the bottom of the first.

2:04 p.m.

Nelly McEnroe-Marinas made a really nice play on a slow bouncing ball from McKenna Gibson’s bat to end the inning.

Landry needed 21 pitches to get through the first, and the OU offense will go to work down 2-0.

2:01 p.m.

Landry retired her first batter of the day with a full count strikeout, but Sophia Nugent’s sacrifice fly doubled the Volunteer lead.

Pitching coach Jen Rocha is now in the circle to talk things over with Landry and Emerling.

1:58 p.m.

Early nerves from the Sooners.

Isabela Emerling allows a run to score on a passed ball and Pannell advanced to third.

The OU infield conferenced in the circle to talk it over, and it looked like the veteran, Cydney Sanders, did most of the talking.

Oklahoma trails 1-0 with no outs in the top of the first.

1:56 p.m.

Sam Landry is in some early trouble.

Taylor Pannell doubled to the wall to put runners on second and third.

Leach initially missed Karen Weekly’s stop sign at third, otherwise Abby Dayton might have thrown her out from center.

1:54 p.m.

Sam Landry fires a first pitch strike to Gabby Leach and it’s officially on at Devon Park.

On the second pitch, Leach clubbed a single just over the outstretched glove of Gabbie Garcia.

1:49 p.m.

The wind is blowing ever so slightly out to right field, but it didn’t seem to have a real impact on today’s first game between Texas and Florida.

Almost perfect conditions for Game 4 between the Sooners and the Vols.

1:34 p.m.

This should shock no-one: Sam Landry and Karlyn Pickens will start.

Oklahoma’s Sydney Barker has kept her spot in right field.

Kasidi Pickering, Ella Parker, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas and Gabbie Garcia are the top four today.

1:18 p.m.

The Texas Longhorns opened the WCWS with a 3-0 win over the Florida Gators.

The winner between Oklahoma and Tennessee will get the Longhorns on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Today’s loser will return Friday night to play in an elimination game against the Gators at 6 p.m.

The Sooners and the Vols are up next here at Devon Park.