Texas Softball Avoids the Sweep vs. Oklahoma in Walk-Off Fashion

The Texas Longhorns headed into Sunday looking for anything with the Red River Rivalry series already lost, as the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners headed to Austin and took the first two games of the series.

The Longhorns would be shut out for the first time since 2024, dropping the first game of the series on Friday, 3-0, and dropping the series in a frustrating 4-3 loss on Saturday. Looking to avoid the sweep, headed to the diamond looking to beat both the rain and Oklahoma to salvage some momentum.

And Texas would get exactly what it needed on Sunday, getting one back on Oklahoma, taking game three in a back-and-forth 8-6 affair.

Texas Comes Up with the Clutch Hits when Needed

Texas Longhorns utility Katie Stewart celebrates after hitting a home run in the fourth inning of a Women's College World Series game. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Longhorns, while dropping back-to-back series this season, have put an end to a four-game losing streak.

"We lost the series, but anytime you beat an Oklahoma team, you've done something," head coach Mike White said. "I think, look at the volume of the work in the three games over the weekend, I thought we played very well."

For the second straight day, the Longhorns would strike first against the Sooners, with Texas this time flexing its power as junior Kayden Henry got the day started for the Longhorns with a three-run home run, giving Texas its biggest lead of the series.

However, the Sooners would not go away quietly as they looked to sweep their rival on their home field, with Oklahoma battling throughout the middle innings, making the Longhorns lead 3-0 to a minimal 3-2 in the top of the fifth inning.

The Longhorns hung onto a lead through the back half of the game until the seventh inning, in which Texas held a 5-3 lead. However, needing just three outs to steal the win, the lead would evaporate quickly with Oklahoma blasting a two-run home run to even things out at five, forcing extra innings.

In extras, the Sooners would flip the script of the ballgame, scoring a run and taking their first lead of the game. The Sooners are forcing the Longhorns to respond, trailing 6-5 and down to their last three outs.

And in a weekend when the Longhorns were unable to come up with the big hit, they found them on Sunday. As the rain threatened to pour down in Austin, the home runs poured at Red and Charline McCombs Field with Texas winning a slugfest that featured seven home runs, five of which came from batters in burnt orange.

"I thought that our resiliency today, after two tough losses," White said. "It could've been easy just to say you know we were close, but we couldn't have done it."

In that eighth inning, Texas found two home runs to steal game three of the series. The first homer was brought by freshman Hannah Wells, who came into the ballgame as a pinch hitter in the crucial moment and managed to get a ball to fall right over the left field fence to even up the game at six.

Making herself the hero of the game was junior Katie Stewart. She settled into the batter's box with a runner on base and on the third pitch of the at-bat crushed a pitch for the walk-off two-run bomb to seal the ballgame.

"I just knew it off the bat," Stewart said. "And so knowing that the game was over and that we had won, just like a wave of emotions came over."

The Longhorns will head back on the road, making their way up to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in their next action. The three-game tilt is set to start on Saturday April, 18 at 3:00 p.m. CT.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.