No. 1 Texas softball falls to Oklahoma in Big 12 tournament finals, eyes NCAA fate
After falling to Oklahoma in Saturday’s Big 12 tournament title game, the No. 1 Texas softball team will find out its NCAA fate Sunday when the selection committee unveils its bracket at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.
Texas (47-7), the Big 12’s regular-season champion, couldn't repeat that run during the tournament held in the Sooners’ backyard at Oklahoma City's Devon Park, but the loss shouldn’t do too much damage to the Longhorns’ seeding hopes. Texas is all but certain to claim a top-eight seed despite Saturday’s 5-1 loss, which ensures that the Longhorns will host the first two weekends of the NCAA Tournament pending an upset loss. Texas won’t have to travel until the College World Series May 30-June 7 back at Devon Park.
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The Longhorns still have hopes of claiming the overall top seed, but three-time defending national champion Oklahoma (49-6) - No. 2 in the latest NCAA RPI ranking, just after Texas - made its case behind pitcher Kelly Maxwell, who allowing just one run and two hits and struck out seven in 5 1/3 innings before giving way to reliever Nicole May. Texas had just two hits in the game, including a RBI triple by freshman outfielder Kayden Henry that drove in Joley Mitchell in the second inning.
“Congratulations to Oklahoma on winning the Big 12 Championship, obviously the last time our two teams will be in this conference,” Texas coach Mike White said, referencing this summer’s departure to the SEC for both OU and Texas. “We have to find ways to learn from the adversity today. I thought we had a couple of opportunities. This is a game of inches, and they made the plays, and we didn’t, and that’s what happens. We have to find a way to recoup and learn from that and be ready to go for the postseason.”
Texas received a strong performance from sophomore pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez, who had a career-high 10 strikeouts while giving up seven hits in a complete game. Only three of her five runs allowed were earned as the Longhorns committed two errors while having their 18-game winning streak snapped.
“I thought Citlaly certainly did not deserve to give up the five runs she gave up,” White said. “She pitched well enough to win the game; had 10 strikeouts against a potent offense and pitched great.”
Mitchell, Bella Dayton and Katie Stewart all earned all-tournament honors, the most for Texas since 2005.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: No. 1 Texas softball falls to OU in Big 12 finals, awaits NCAA fate
