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Oklahoma Stunned by Mississippi State's Late Comeback

The Sooners lost a game in Super Regional play for the first time in 11 years after giving up nine runs in the final two innings.
Ryan Aber|
Oklahoma second baseman Ailana Agbayani fields a ground ball against Mississippi State in the Norman Super Regional.
Oklahoma second baseman Ailana Agbayani fields a ground ball against Mississippi State in the Norman Super Regional. | Carson Field / Sooners on SI

NORMAN — Oklahoma generated plenty of offense against Mississippi State's star pitching tandem.

But the third-seeded Sooners blew two big leads, and now their backs are against the wall.

The Bulldogs scored five in the top of the seventh to stun Oklahoma 11-9 at Love's Field on Friday in the opener of the best-of-three Super Regional.

Freshman Kendall Wells had a monster game, going 4 for 5 with a pair of home runs and six RBIs, to put the Sooners three outs away from opening the series with a win before the Bulldogs stunned Oklahoma with a big seventh.

The Sooners (51-9) now need to win back-to-back games to extend their string of Women's College World Series appearances to 10.

OU and Mississippi State will play in Game 2 at noon Saturday at Love's Field. If the Sooners win, a decisive Game 3 would be played Sunday at a to-be-determined time.

"We go down fighting, especially here at home but anywhere," Sooners coach Patty Gasso said. "We're going to be ready to make this right."

Wells already had three hits — her first multi-hit game since April 19 — when she dug in against Peja Goold with one out and two on in the sixth after the Bulldogs had scored four in the top half of the inning to tie the game.

Just like she did in the third off Alyssa Faircloth, Wells jumped on the first pitch, with a 262-foot shot to left center to break the tie.

The four-hit game was the first of Wells' career.

She now has 39 home runs on the season, second all-time and one behind UCLA's Megan Grant, who enters the Bruins' Super Regional with 40 home runs.

It was Wells' sixth multi-home run game of the season and the first since March 21 vs. Ole Miss.

Wells drove in a season-high six runs and has 87 on the season, tying Tiare Jennings' 2022 total for second in program history. Jennings holds the program record with 91 in 2021.

In the seventh, the Bulldogs brought the tying run to the plate after back-to-back singles off Audrey Lowry.

After a lineout, Abby Richardson drove in a run with a double, putting the tying run on second.

The Sooners walked Nadia Barbary, seemingly intentionally, to load the bases.

Xiane Romero made it 9-8 with a single to right.

Lowry struck out Kiarra Sells on a changeup for the second out, then walked Morgan Bernardini to force in a run and tie the game.

Tatum Silva then dribbled a ball on the infield, breaking the tie with the infield single, with the Bulldogs adding an insurance run on Ailana Agbayani's throwing error.

Sydney Barker flied out to right to lead off the bottom of the seventh, before Kai Minor laced a single to left to bring the tying run to the plate.

Ella Parker then drew a walk to bring up Wells with a chance to be the hero once again.

Wells took the first pitch low, then fouled out to first on the second pitch, leaving Gabbie Garcia as the Sooners' last chance.

Garcia fell into a 1-2 hole off Delainey Everett, took a ball, then swung through to end the game.

The loss was Oklahoma's first in a Super Regional since 2015 — the last time the Sooners missed the WCWS. It also snapped a 31-game home winning streak in the NCAA Tournament and was the first postseason loss at Love's Field.

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The start was an auspicious one for Miali Guachino.

The Bulldogs' Morgan Stiles led off with a single to right before Grett Grassel reached on a Guachino error.

But Guachino got Barbary to fly out to foul territory in left, then got Romero to ground into a double play to end the inning.

In the bottom half, the Sooners loaded the bases with no outs off Alyssa Faircloth.

Minor reached on an error, Parker walked and Wells singled to left to load the bases.

OU coach Patty Gasso held the speedy Minor at third, taking her chances that the Sooners would be able to push Minor across quickly.

But Garcia grounded into a 3-2-3 double play on a 3-1 pitch, Emerling drew a four-pitch walk and Faircloth struck out Pickering on a changeup to end the inning.

In the second, Mississippi State loaded the bases with two outs against Guachino, before Guachino got Stiles to line out to left to end the inning.

The Sooners lost a challenge earlier in the inning on Kinley Keller's double down the left-field line. OU challenged the fair-foul call — as third-base umpire Kalee Young didn't make the call but home-plate umpire Mike Burwell was the one to call the ball fair.

Without a definitive angle on replay, the call stood.

Later, Guachino's throw to first pulled Emerling off the base but she appeared to get back in plenty of time to get the out but first-base umpire Brett Higgins called Paige Ernstes safe.

The Sooners didn't challenge that call, though, and the error stood.

The Bulldogs (41-19) broke through in the third, taking the lead on Silva's bases loaded infield single off Guachino's glove.

It didn't take long for Oklahoma to answer.

Minor drew a leadoff walk, then after an out, Wells blasted the first pitch she saw for her 38th home run of the season, 279-foot moonshot to left center.

After a Garcia single, Emerling also went deep to left center, though this home run was much different than Wells'.

Emerling's 20th home run of the season was a laser shot — with just a 19-degree launch angle — to make it 4-1.

Then Pickering delivered a 227-foot blast to center, just over the outstretched arm of Keller at the wall.

The home run was also Pickering's 20th, making the Sooners the first team in NCAA history with five 20 home run hitters in the same season.

Parker and Garcia each came into the day with 22.

Mississippi State scored another in the fourth on Des Rivera's leadoff homer.

Wells drove in an unearned run in the bottom of the inning on a single to left to score Minor.

Guachino ultimately went three-plus innings before giving way to Sydney Berzon after walking the next hitter after Rivera's homer.

Berzon ran into trouble in the sixth as Mississippi State battled back to tie it.

Barker's fielding error at third with two outs allowed a run to come across to make it 6-4 before Berzon was lifted for Lowry.

A passed ball allowed another run to come across the plate before Bernardini delivered a single up the middle to score Sells with the tying run.

Minor nearly gave the Sooners the lead in the sixth with a fly ball to the wall, but Keller made a heaping catch to keep the game tied.

The teams entered as two of the best defensive teams in the country but combined for five errors.

The multi-error game was just the fourth of the season for the Sooners and just the second three-error game of the season. Guachino's pair of errors were just the second time this season an OU player had two or more errors in a game.

For the Bulldogs, it was just the third multi-error game of the season.

Barker started off the sixth with a single, then after Minor's fly out, Parker singled to center, leading Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts to turn to Goold in the circle.

Wells jumped on the first offering she saw, sending the Love's Field crowd into a frenzy with the three-run shot.

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Ryan Aber
RYAN ABER

Ryan Aber has been covering Oklahoma football for more than a decade continuously and since 1999 overall. Ryan was the OU beat writer for The Oklahoman from 2013-2025, covering the transition from Bob Stoops to Lincoln Riley to Brent Venables. He covered OU men's basketball's run to the Final Four in 2016 and numerous national championships for the Sooners' women's gymnastics and softball programs. Prior to taking on the Sooners beat, Ryan covered high schools, the Oklahoma City RedHawks and Oklahoma City Barons for the newspaper from 2006-13. He spent two seasons covering Arkansas football for the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas before returning to his hometown of Oklahoma City. Ryan also worked at the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the Muskogee Phoenix. At the Phoenix, he covered OU's national championship run in 2000. Ryan is a graduate of Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City and Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.

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