logo
Texas Tech ends Oklahoma's 4-year run as Women's College World Series champ with walk-off 3-2 win

Texas Tech ends Oklahoma's 4-year run as Women's College World Series champ with walk-off 3-2 win

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's run of four straight Women's College World Series titles ended when Lauren Allred's walk-off sacrifice fly gave Texas Tech a 3-2 victory in the semifinals on Monday night.
Coach Patty Gasso's Sooners (52-9) were down to their last strike in the top of the seventh inning when Abigale Dayton summoned a bit of magic, hitting a tying two-run homer against Red Raiders ace NiJaree Canady. It was just her third longball of the season.
But the Red Raiders (53-12) responded quickly in the bottom half. Mihyia Davis singled with one out and Hailey Toney followed with a double. Allred hit a flyball to right field and Sydney Barker's throw to the plate was wide, allowing Davis to score easily.
Texas Tech, in its first trip to the WCWS, will play Texas in the best-of-three championship series starting Wednesday. The Longhorns reached the finals for the third time in the past four years. They lost to Oklahoma in 2022 and 2024.
Oklahoma had won nine straight elimination games.
Canady lost the shutout but got the win. She is the two-time reigning National Fastpitch Coaches Association Pitcher of the Year and was the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year last season.
___
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

'We know what our team is capable of': Brent Venables expects big things from Oklahoma
'We know what our team is capable of': Brent Venables expects big things from Oklahoma

USA Today

time6 hours ago

  • USA Today

'We know what our team is capable of': Brent Venables expects big things from Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Sooners were predicted to finish in 10th place in the SEC this year by the media at last week's SEC media days. Obviously, if that were to come true, that simply isn't good enough at OU. The prediction makes sense on the surface. Oklahoma went 2-6 in the SEC last year, on its way to a 6-7 overall record. A solid defense was hung out to dry by a poor offense, and the Sooners dealt with wholesale injuries on their way to a bad year. Looking closer, OU has made plenty of changes this offseason that have them confident heading into this year. Count head coach Brent Venables among those who think this year's team is capable of more. Venables joined offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and co-defensive coordinator Todd Bates at the annual OU Football Coaches Luncheon on Thursday, and he was asked about the Sooners being picked to finish 10th in the conference. According to Jesse Crittenden, who covers Oklahoma for OUInsider, Venables has confidence as the 2025 season approaches. 'We've got a lot to prove, and I like that," Venables said. "We know what our team is capable of. There's no game on our schedule that we can't win.' "I missed the press conference where everybody was praising us," Venables said via The Oklahoman's Colton Sulley, "and justifiably so, we have a lot to prove. ... Our plan is to compete for an SEC championship." The Sooners face one of the nation's toughest schedules in 2025, and will have new play-callers on both sides of the ball for the second-straight season. Arbuckle takes the reins on offense, while Venables himself will juggle his head coaching duties with defensive play-calling duties. Regardless of the challenging schedule and all the "new" in Norman, there's plenty of belief inside the Switzer Center that 2025 will be different from 2024. Venables, his staff, and his players believe that Oklahoma will return to its winning ways this season. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @Aaron_Gelvin.

2026 NBA Finals contenders: Which teams elevated themselves this offseason?
2026 NBA Finals contenders: Which teams elevated themselves this offseason?

Yahoo

time19 hours ago

  • Yahoo

2026 NBA Finals contenders: Which teams elevated themselves this offseason?

Without question and rightfully so, the Oklahoma City Thunder are heavy favorites to repeat as NBA champions in 2025-26. They return all their key players, including regular-season and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. However, there hasn't been a repeat NBA champion since Golden State in 2017 and 2018, and a team hasn't even played in back-to-back Finals since the Warriors in 2018 and 2019. The NBA has never been more wide open. Several teams in the West will push the Thunder. On paper, the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets all improved in the offseason. And the East is for the taking. Consider that 2025 finalist Indiana is without Tyrese Haliburton (Achilles); 2024 champion Boston is without Jayson Tatum (Achilles), Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis (both traded); and 2023 finalist Miami is far from contention. Which teams made offseason moves that elevated themselves to contender status for the 2025-26 NBA season? Houston Rockets This is as obvious a team as you'll find on this list. The Rockets added Kevin Durant, 3-and-D wing Dorian Finney-Smith, guard Josh Okogie and center Clint Capela, while re-signing center Steven Adams — who thrived in Houston's double-big lineup — and key contributors Fred VanVleet and Jabari Smith Jr. (rookie extension). All the while, Houston didn't lose much. With their size, length and athleticism at the wing, and with their ferocious defensive identity, the Rockets are built to stop a team like the Thunder. Now, with Durant's scoring, they have the offense to match, too. Denver Nuggets Since winning the title in 2023, the Nuggets failed to advance past the second round in 2024 and 2025, and the team is intent on trying to win another title while center Nikola Jokic is playing at an MVP level. With a new coach (David Adelman) and new front-office leadership (Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace), the Nuggets made the moves that can put them back in the Finals (they lost in seven games to Oklahoma City in 2025). Denver traded for Cam Johnson in a deal that sent Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn, brought back Bruce Brown, signed Tim Hardaway Jr., and acquired Jonas Valanciunas, giving the Nuggets depth and versatility to better compete with the Thunder and other top teams in the West. New York Knicks They were already a conference finals team, and — while they didn't necessarily add that much — their roster continuity should go a long way, particularly in a wide-open Eastern Conference. Getting veteran bench scorer Jordan Clarkson on the cheap should ease the scoring burden and help the team put up points during the non-Jalen Brunson minutes. But, more than anything, new coach Mike Brown should have no reservations about relying on Clarkson and New York's bench, something Tom Thibodeau was hesitant to do. Los Angeles Clippers "Thirtysomething" was a popular TV drama in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It's also how Clippers front-office executives Lawrence Frank and Trent Redden believe the team can contend for a title – with thirtysomethings James Harden, 35; Kawhi Leonard, 34; Nic Batum, 36; Bradley Beal, 32; Kris Dunn 31; and Brook Lopez, 37, plus one fortysomething in Chris Paul. They also have John Collins, Ivica Zubac, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Derrick Jones Jr. The Clippers are fast approaching a rebuild with the contracts of Leonard and Harden expiring after the 2026-27 season and trying to maximize these two seasons. Detroit Pistons The Pistons minimized the losses of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schroder in the offseason by acquiring Duncan Robinson, signing Caris LeVert, re-signing Paul Reed and getting Jaden Ivey back in the rotation after an injury sidelined him for 52 games last season. The growth of Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Ron Holland II, Ausar Thompson and veterans such as Tobias Harris could make the Pistons the breakout team in a wide-open East. The Pistons made a giant leap from 14 victories in 2023-24 to 44 victories in 2024-25 and should be moving into the 50-win territory in 2025-26. Orlando Magic Again, in a wide-open East, the Magic might have done just enough to elevate into a contender. The big move was to find another shooter and scorer in Desmond Bane, who averaged 19.2 points per game for Memphis last season. Orlando's identity has been on defense, and Bane instantly takes the pressure off of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Getting Tyus Jones was another solid move, one that shores up the backup point guard slot. And No. 25 overall selection Jase Richardson could also provide a little scoring bump off the bench. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NBA Finals 2026: Which teams elevated themselves into contenders?

Big Ten's College Football Playoff plan is recipe for making season worse, not better
Big Ten's College Football Playoff plan is recipe for making season worse, not better

USA Today

time19 hours ago

  • USA Today

Big Ten's College Football Playoff plan is recipe for making season worse, not better

Tony Petitti says his preferred College Football Playoff format would make for a compelling November, and, on that point, I agree with the Big Ten commissioner. November, though, doesn't require a commissioner's help. That portion of college football's calendar already rocks, full of epic rivalries and crucial games that influence playoff qualifications and seeding. On a wild Saturday last November, Florida upset Mississippi and Oklahoma stunned Alabama in results that altered the playoff field. That same day, Penn State barely survived Minnesota, and Arizona State wriggled past Brigham Young in a thriller with playoff stakes. Regular-season television ratings peak in November. It's the rest of the season that could use a boost. That's where Petitti's controversial 4+4+2+2+1+3 playoff plan falls flat. Big Ten playoff plan would devalue non-conference games Petitti claims to want a playoff model that would improve the regular season, but his plan wouldn't achieve that goal. The surest way to improve the season would be to incentivizing teams to play tough non-conference games and reduce the feast of cupcake games that shackle the season's early weeks. Petitti, though, aims to devalue non-conference games. November would stay great in his plan, and play-in Saturday would generate buzz, but his idea to award more than 80% of the playoff bids based on conference standings and play-in games would diminish September and, to a lesser extent, even October. 'Fans will gravitate to' play-in games, Petitti said Tuesday at Big Ten media days. At what cost? One play-in Saturday is not worth deflating September. If the playoff became a Petitti production based mostly on conference results, interconference games like Ohio State-Texas, LSU-Clemson and Michigan-Oklahoma would become glorified exhibitions. ABSOLUTE POWER: Big Ten, SEC fight to shape College Football Playoff HOME FIELDS: Our ranking of toughest Big Ten college football stadiums Play-in Saturday could prop up average teams Petitti admits to wanting to prolong the playoff hopes of average teams. He sees the chance for an 8-4 Big Ten team winning a play-in game and cracking the playoff as an asset, not a detriment. I see a structure that would make the season's first two months less relevant. I'm envisioning a scenario in which Iowa loses to Iowa State in a September non-conference matchup, and the Hawkeyes slog to 8-4 before winning a play-in game to reach the playoff, while the Cyclones go 10-2, lose a play-in game and miss the playoff. That's how a playoff becomes a farce. Fortunately, Petitti's playoff plan is going nowhere fast. He's failed to gain support from other conferences. The playoff format for 2026 and beyond remains undecided. Petitti would like to diminish the selection committee's role and, as he puts it, allow playoff spots to be decided on the field and not in a boardroom. In practice, his plan not only would dimish the selection committee, but it also could dilute the influence of some November results. Alabama, Mississippi and Miami lost to unranked opponents late last November, results that bounced them from the playoff. If Petitti's model had been in place, the losing teams would have retained a playoff path through play-in games. I don't see how college football's season improves if Syracuse upsetting Miami on the final day of November carries no weight on the playoff picture. How to actually improve college football's regular season Petitti's playoff plan would earmark four automatic bids for the Big Ten and four more for the SEC – that's half of a 16-team field – while the Big 12 and ACC received only two automatic bids apiece. Is it any wonder why the Big Ten hatched this plan, and the Big 12 and ACC detest it? If Petitti wants to get serious about improving the regular season, then he's going about this backward by focusing on conference standings and propping up mediocre teams. Here's how you improve the regular season: Preserve automatic bids for conference champions, but keep most of the playoff bracket open to at-large bids, and devise a system in which the playoff committee values meaningful non-conference results while evaluating bubble teams. As it is now, Big Ten teams like Indiana and Nebraska are canceling their toughest non-conference games in favor of weaker schedules, and SEC teams cling to their Championship Subdivision games like a child hugs a security blanket. These gimme games bog down the schedule, particularly early in the season. To rectify that, task the selection committee to reward teams that schedule – and win – tough non-conference games and hold accountable bubble teams that beefed up their record purely by blasting patsies. Do this, and you'd spur more Big Ten vs. SEC games, of which there are only three this season. Likewise, only three SEC teams will play a Big 12 opponent. Generating more high-stakes non-conference clashes between Power Four opponents not only would become a boon for September audience, those games also would help the committee separate the wheat from the chaff come selection time. Imagine if Oklahoma played Oklahoma State this October, instead of Kent State, or if Texas played Texas Tech in September, instead of Sam Houston, or if Southern California opened the season against Missouri, instead of Missouri State. That's how you improve the season. College football needs a play-in Saturday in December less than it needs more significant non-conference games, some of which could restore rivalries that conference realignment interrupted. College basketball figured this out. The NCAA men's tournament selection committee values victories against opponents within the top quadrants and thereby rewards teams that schedule tough. Qualifying for March Madness isn't purely an exercise of assembling a fine record. Who you played, and who you beat, matters. Teams that avoid tough games are held accountable in bubble debates. Petitti claims he's got college football's regular season at heart in his playoff plan. He's wrong. His playoff plan would diminish and neglect the non-conference portion of the schedule that needs enhancement. Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store