Regular Season Meeting Means 'Absolutely Nothing' for Oklahoma, Tennessee in WCWS Opener

Tennessee is more than just Pickens, though. 

Former Sooner Sophia Nugent broke OU hearts with a two-run shot in the top of the eighth inning of the regular season opener. 

Taylor Pannell — who leads Tennessee in batting average (.384), OPS (1.219) and RBIs (62) — homered in the Game 2 defeat, and Gabby Leach and Ella Dodge combined to hurt OU ace Sam Landry for five runs in the decisive series finale. 

How to Watch Oklahoma vs. Tennessee at the WCWS

• Where: Devon Park
• When: Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
• Channel: ESPN

The Volunteers aren’t banking on those regular season wins carrying over to Devon Park, however. 

“I don't think that series means anything for this week,” Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said. “Winning at Oklahoma, I think the thing it did for our team was gave them the confidence, and we kind of came together and solidified some things in our lineup.

“But other than that, it means absolutely nothing for Thursday. It's a brand-new season. At every stage of the post-season, that's kind of what we have talked about: This is a brand new season, everybody is 0-0.”

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Oklahoma’s lineup has filled out top-to-bottom over the past few weekends. 

Ailana Agbayani and Abby Dayton’s contributions at the bottom of the order have joined with excellent play from Kasidi Pickering, Ella Parker, Gabbie Garcia and Nelly McEnroe-Marinas at the top of the lineup.

Both teams will be fighting to get off on the right foot, and to take full advantage of the rest that comes with winning on Day 1 at the WCWS. 

The winner will be able to recover on Friday and throw their ace in a crucial contest on Saturday. 

Thursday’s loser will face elimination on Friday night and have to decide between trusting the rest of the pitching staff or tossing their ace on back-to-back days. 

Oklahoma has climbed out of a 0-1 hole in Oklahoma City to win a title before in 2021, but the Sooners are looking to avoid any of those heroics in 2025.

“It's just about who's going to be better, and that's what it comes down to,” Gasso said. “So we're going to be prepared. We're going back and looking. If you want to talk about prep, looking at the games that we played, we weren't at our best. 

“They won fair and square. They deserve that, no doubt about it. But I think we know we have more in us, and we're trusting we're going to bring it out tomorrow.”