OU Softball: Oklahoma Walks Off Arkansas to Complete Furious Rally, Reach SEC Championship

The six bombs set an SEC Tournament record for home runs in a game by a team. It was also the largest deficit overcome in tournament history.

Gasso provided the spark for the Sooners. 

OU came to the dugout trailing by five runs in the middle of the third, and the legendary coach ripped into her squad. 

“Even when we’re down, we’re never out. That’s the message,” Gasso told the broadcast on ESPN2. “… One big hit can get us right back in it.”

Parker responded with the solo shot to cut it to 6-2 after three, and the Sooners continued to chip away. 

“Honestly I just give it all up to God, give it all up to my team,” Garcia said after the win. “… That was all them honestly … I have an army behind me.”

The Sooners will take on the winner of No. 2-seed Texas A&M and 3-seeded Texas in the SEC Championship on Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN.

Left-hander Kierston Deal got the start in the circle for OU, and Oklahoma quickly found itself in the hole. 

She allowed a single and a walk in the first two batters. Deal did get Arkansas star Bri Ellis to pop out, but another walk loaded the bases and Kailey Wycoff’s single put the Razorbacks on top 1-0. 

In the next at-bat, Ella McDowell doubled the lead with a sacrifice fly, but Deal got Kennedy Miller to fly out to limit the first inning damage to just two runs. 

Deal’s outing wouldn’t last much longer. 

She allowed a one-out double off the top of the wall in the second, and after a ground out moved the runner to third, Gasso switched the lefty out for Isabella Smith. 

Smith battled Raigan Kramer, inducing a slow-roller in the infield, but OU second baseman Agbayani was unable to get to the ball fast enough to get the out at first and OU fell behind 3-0 after the Razorbacks’ first two trips to the plate. 

Barker, another true freshman, got the Sooners on the board with a two-out solo shot in the second, but the excitement was short lived.

Another walk was turned into a run in the third. 

Smith issued a free pass to Courtney Day to start the frame, then Wycoff belted a homer to right field to extend the Razorback lead out to 5-1.

Another run came in when a pitch got past Emerling behind the plate with McDowell on third, and Gasso again made a chance to bring Paytn Monticelli in for Smith. 

Monticelli allowed a walk, but got a pair of fly outs to head to the bottom of the third down 6-1.

Gasso was shown on the ESPN2 broadcast ripping into her team before the bottom of the third, and Parker heard the message loud and clear. 

She homered in the bottom of the inning to cut the Arkansas advantage to 6-2.

Monticelli kept the Razorbacks off the board for the first time in the fourth, which allowed OU’s offense to claw back into the game. 

Cydney Sanders led the frame off with a single, then Arkansas turned a double play that proved to be crucial. 

Barker crushed her second homer of the day right after the double play, and she was followed by another solo bomb from Emerling to cut the deficit to 6-4 with three innings to play.

The Sooners put runners on the corners in the fifth with one out, prompting Arkansas to bring in ace pitcher Robyn Herron. 

The talented lefty struck out Garcia, then got a fantastic diving play from McDowell at third to rob Sanders of an RBI-single and to keep the Razorbacks’ two-run lead intact heading into the sixth.

Agbayani hit the Sooners’ fifth solo shot of the day in the sixth, which set the SEC Tournament record for home runs in a single game, and Kasidi Pickering started things off for the Sooners in the bottom of the seventh withe tournament’s top seed trailing 6-5.

OU put a pair in scoring position for Garcia, and the freshman shortstop crushed a no-doubter to compete the comeback. 

Freshman left-hander Audrey Lowry took over for Monticelli in the fifth, and the victory wouldn’t have been possible without her steady hand. She retired all nine batters she faced, striking out three Razorbacks. 

Crucially, Sam Landry never had to come out of the bullpen, so the OU ace will be ready to battle the Aggies or the Longhorns on Saturday.