Big 12 rivals Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns to square off in WCWS finals
Hailey Dolcini knew nothing of the Red River Rivalry.
Dolcini, the Longhorn ace and California native, spent one season at UC Riverside and three seasons at Fresno State before transferring to Texas. The South was foreign land after spending time on the West Coast her entire life. But she’s picked things up quickly. She learned about the Longhorns’ rivals. More importantly, she learned who hates the Longhorns.
Now, after knowing nothing a year ago, Dolcini is heavily engrained in the rivalry. After surging through the loser’s bracket and staving off elimination in the regional and super regional round, the unranked Longhorns, will play No. 1 Oklahoma in the championship series at the Women’s College World Series.
The storied Red River Rivalry will again commence, now with a national title on the line. Game 1 is Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN (streaming also available on fuboTV).
“When you talk about Texas, right now we are not caught up in Red River Rivalry,” OU coach Patty Gasso said. “We don’t play with anger or anything like that. We’re just here to try to win against a good team.”
'TO MEET THEM HERE IS INSANE': How OU's Hope Trautwein went from Texas fan to Sooners softball ace
MORE: No matter who starts, Texas pitchers have more to worry about than Oklahoma’s Jocelyn Alo
WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: Game times, TV schedule, results for NCAA softball
Responses from coaches and players have been expected. The Sooners are focused on repeating as champions. The Longhorns want to play spoiler.
“At the end of the day we are competing for a national championship,” said Jocelyn Alo, OU's designated player. “It doesn’t matter whoever is in that other dugout.”
Gasso suggested fans can get enamored with the rivalry happening on this stage, but the Sooners are focused on the Sooners. Texas catcher Mary Iakopo, another California native, said the rivalry still doesn’t mean anything to her.
“I actually played with most of those girls,” Iakopo said. “It’s like playing the California teams all over again.”
Despite each downplaying the series, fan interest has clearly piqued.
According to Vivid Seats, a ticket exchange company, this year’s WCWS ticket is the hottest of the past decade. The resell value peaks at $117 for Wednesday’s Game 1 and climbs closer to $150 for Thursday’s Game 2 of the best-of-three series. Compared to other Red River games from this past year, the WCWS ticket price only gets beaten out by football.
The increased interest could be attributed to the rarity of conference foes squaring off for a national title. It has occurred 13 times in softball, the most recent being Florida and Alabama in 2011. In the BCS era, it's only happened three times in football, all with SEC schools.
STAY UP-TO-DATE: Subscribe to our Sports newsletter now!
Women’s basketball has only seen it seven times since 1989. It hasn’t occurred in men’s hoops since 1988. Baseball had it happen nine times since 1963.
The Sooners and Longhorns never played for a national title until several weeks ago, when Texas defeated OU to win the women’s tennis national championship.
So it’s rare, and has only galvanized more fans.
Despite playing a rival, Gasso said the Big 12 vs. Big 12 national championship speaks to the conference’s strength.
“We only have seven teams in our conference, but three in the final four,” Gasso said. “Representing was a big deal for us because we don’t get talked about. I think the Big 12 doesn’t get talked about very often.”
Texas and Oklahoma remain business as usual ahead of Wednesday’s first pitch.
The opponent doesn’t matter, they’re both focused on winning the thing. But the fans are focused on the rivalry, caught in the grandeur of a historic rivalry colliding with a quickly growing sport.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: WCWS: Big 12 rivals Oklahoma and Texas meet for NCAA softball title
