It’s No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 Oklahoma in the best-of-3 championship series

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Women’s College World Series championship series will feature the top two teams in the country.

No. 2 Oklahoma outlasted No. 4 Florida 6-5 with a walk-off home run by Jayda Coleman in the eighth inning in an elimination semifinal Tuesday. Now, the mighty Sooners take on top-seeded Texas for the crown starting Wednesday at Devon Field in Oklahoma City.

The Sooners are the three-time defending national champs and defeated Texas to win one of them in 2022, but Texas has been just as good as the Sooners (if not a little better) this season. It’s a matchup that softball fans have been clamoring for all season.

Counting the Big 12 tournament championship game, won by Oklahoma, the teams have split four games this year. The Longhorns won the regular season series 2-1 in Austin before the Sooners officially won the conference championship. This best-of-three series will settle the question of who’s the best on the field, the way it should be.

Texas’ run to the title series in 2022 was seemingly out of nowhere since they weren’t even seeded to start the NCAA tournament. Now, they were anointed the top team by the selection committee and they’ve been playing like it.

“We look so calm and composed this year,” outfielder Bella Dayton said. “We’re confident with ourselves and we’re not really worried about who is on the other end. I’ve been here before and feel like I’m the most nervous person on the field compared to all our underclassmen.”

Dayton has played marvelously in left field for the Longhorns, making a pair of sliding catches for big outs in the 1-0 semifinal victory over No. 8 Stanford. She has at least one hit in seven of Texas’ eight NCAA tournament games with three coming at the WCWS after moving to the leadoff spot in the batting order.

As much as the offense has done this season, as head coach Mike White said, you can’t lose a shutout. Stanford had two games to score on Texas and couldn’t and neither could Florida. The chances of that happening against Oklahoma are presumably slim, but White said his team is ready to get it done.

“It’s going to be the team that executes and does the small things well,” White said. “We have two lives just like they do, and we have to be relentless and not give in.”

Originally, Tuesday was supposed to be an off day for all the teams but weather pushed the second Florida-Oklahoma semifinal to a day later. The Gators stunned the Sooners 9-3 Monday to force the second game, but a rain delay shifted that game later and there wasn’t time to get a second one in before Texas played Stanford. Sooners pitcher Kelly Maxwell went the distance against the Gators and threw 148 pitches, so the Longhorns probably won’t see her for Wednesday’s championship series opener.

The freshmen and sophomores on the team are no longer underclassmen as far as White is concerned. They’ve played enough in big-time situations now that WCWS games are being treated like a weekend series.

“The game doesn’t know if they’re freshmen or juniors or whatever. It’s just in the mind,” White said. “What I like about our team is that we’ve had great balance, no matter what year they are. They’re playing with a lot of confidence and that’s from the senior leadership of the program telling them what to expect.”