Oklahoma's Bats go Silent in Super Regionals Loss to Mississippi State

NORMAN — Oklahoma's offense was historic all season.

The Sooners hit 187 home runs — more than any team in softball history other than this season's UCLA squad — and were up near the top in runs and several other categories.

But Oklahoma's bats fell silent Sunday, managing just three hits in a 6-0 loss to Mississippi State that ended its season in the Norman Super Regional, leaving the Sooners short of the Women's College World Series for the first time since 2015.

The most surprising thing about the loss was the Sooners' lack of offensive punch, especially given that Bulldogs' duo of aces — Alyssa Faircloth and Peja Goold — didn't pitch.

Instead, it was junior Delainey Everett, who had thrown just 12 innings entering the Super Regional, who handcuffed Oklahoma.

Sooners coach Patty Gasso said she could feel her team pressing at the plate from early.

"I think sometimes when you want something so bad, sometimes it just doesn't come out that way," Gasso said. "This team wanted it bad. They've taken hacks, we just kept flying out. I think sometimes we were just over-swinging or our angle was wrong. We got some to the wall but just nothing hard hit, ground ball, line drive through the middle.

"That is not lack of ability; it's lack of focus."

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The Sooners' three hits were all singles — Ella Parker's one-out single to dead center in the first that ended with her thrown out trying to stretch it to a double, Kai Minor's third-inning hit to left that stretched her hitting streak to 11, and Isabela Emerling's leadoff single in the seventh which offered one last brief hops that OU could pull off a comeback for the ages.

But there was no comeback, and no runs across the plate for the first time since the 2019 WCWS.

"We just kept taking big swings over and over and over again and wanting like we needed not one hero, but we needed 20," Gasso said. "But we needed everybody — somebody to get on, move them over. We needed a little bit of that. We just couldn't find any juice in the way of moving runners."

Parker was erased on the bases before Kendall Wells dug into the batter's box to follow her.

The Sooners placed two on due to walks in the second but Gabbie Garcia followed the first by grounding into a fielder's choice and then Lexi McDaniel followed the second with a groundout to third. Both of those at-bats ended on 1-0 pitches.

McDaniel appeared to be hit in the foot on her grounder, which would've made it a foul ball, but review officials ruled the evidence inconclusive, meaning the call on the field stood.

After Minor's one-out single in the third, Parker worked the count full before flying out to left center.

Wells was then hit in the face with a pitch, but Everett rebounded to strike out Kasidi Pickering on a 3-2 pitch to end the threat.

Oklahoma Sooners, Kasidi Pickering — Oklahoma outfielder Kasidi Pickering hits a ball against Mississippi State in the Norman Super Regional. | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

The Sooners went quietly in the fourth and fifth, with only one of their at bats lasting more than two pitches and none going longer than four.

Parker drew a leadoff walk in the sixth but Wells followed it with a line out to left, Pickering flied out to center and Garcia fouled out behind third base to end the inning.

"The dugout was engaged. Everybody wanted it," Gasso said. "Everybody was ready. It's just they punched first, and they punched good, and we usually punch right back and didn't — and then they punched again. We usually punch back, but we didn't. We just feel our press a little bit, and that caught us."

Everett was surprised when Bulldogs pitching coach Taryn Mowatt-McKinney pulled her aside Sunday morning and told her she was getting the start.

Everett hadn't started a game all season as she battled injuries through the early part of the season and fell behind Faircloth and Goold in the pecking order.

But Everett was pitching for something bigger.

Sunday's start came on her parents' wedding anniversary. Her father, Brandan, died unexpectedly in January 2025.

Everett said after that her father helped carry her through the day.

Gasso called the decision to start Everett "bold" by Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts, an OU alum.

"She was cool and calm and just got us out," Gasso said. "It wasn't a lot of strikeouts — just outs."

Now Oklahoma is left contemplating the "what-ifs" over a long offseason while Mississippi State is headed to its first-every WCWS appearance.

Oklahoma Sooners, Ella Parker — Oklahoma right fielder Ella Parker tries to stretch a single into a double in Game 3 of the Norman Super Regional against Mississippi State. | Carson Field / Sooners on SI

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