OU Softball: How 'Swaggy, Chill' Oklahoma Avoided WCWS Elimination Again and Gained Valuable Experience

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma got it done. Again.

The Sooners won their ninth-straight elimination game, fending off Oregon with a 4-1 victory on Sunday night at Devon Park.

Veteran first baseman Cydney Sanders rocketed a pair of home runs to help lead her squad, which looks a lot different from the last OU group that had to pick themselves off the mat at the 2024 Women’s College World Series against Florida.

Patty Gasso just wishes her team was as excited as she is.

“We walk over and we shake hand,” said Gasso after the win. “And we walk in the dugout like, ‘Hey, OK,' and I'm like, 'Do you know what we just did? Does anyone know what we just ... we're in the Final Four.’

“Can somebody celebrate? Can we do something fun? They're just the most calm, chill — sometimes I'm like, 'I don't know that you know. Do you know?' ”

Most of Gasso’s Sooners are new, but the returners can be forgiven for showing little emotion.

The expectation is to make it to Wednesday’s championship series.

But the 2025 Sooners extended the program’s streak of winning elimination games to nine, as Oklahoma still looms as the so far un-killable horror movie villain in OKC.

“That's impressive. Nine is pretty dang impressive,” Gasso said. “That means you're a team that when — that's character. That is we're not going to quit, so I love, love, love that.”

To keep the dreams of a fifth straight national title alive, the Sooners will have to stave off elimination twice more on Monday.

The 12-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders and star pitcher NiJaree Canady loom in the semifinals, and 2-seeded Oklahoma has no margin for error.

Oregon took a 1-0 lead on Sunday, and while it lasted just half an inning, Gasso’s new faces got a chance to feel what it’s like to trail in an elimination game at Devon Park.

Every twist and turn through OU’s first three games at the WCWS will help Oklahoma’s next generation grow.

“They learned a valuable lesson,” Gasso said. “And that's the one thing that we're doing this whole season, learning so many valuable lessons to help this team go into next year so much better than when we started.

“Still, I mean, I'm on an amazing ride. I don't know how they feel. They don't share a lot … It's swaggy, but it's bizarre at the same time. Trying to figure it out.”

The Sooners learned how to handle Sunday’s elimination game.

Now they’ll have to replicate that success on Monday to get another shot at either Texas or Tennessee. OU takes on Texas Tech at 6 p.m.

Should the Sooners emerge victorious, they'll immediately turn around and battle the Red Raiders again at Devon Park to try and take down Canady and reach a sixth straight championship series.

“They just sometimes don't make a lot of noise.” Gasso said. “Every once in a while they'll create something. But they were definitely more focused and ready (against Oregon)."