(Courtesy/SoonerSports)
OKLAHOMA CITY — Don't mess around with Oklahoma softball — particularly when the Sooners are playing in their own backyard.
Florida (58-10) — the tournament's top seed — found out the hard way Tuesday night when the Gators were silenced by a dominant, still emerging powerhouse in the Sooners.
Oklahoma (61-9) took Game 2 of the Women's College World Series Finals with a 5-4 win to sweep the Gators and claim back-to-back national championships — a rare feat in any collegiate sport.
"Words cannot express this," OU coach Patty Gasso said. "I still cannot believe this happened."
With the 2-0 series victory, the Sooners claimed the program's fourth national title and the third in the past five years.
"Where we started versus where we finished made this journey unbelievable," Gasso said. "If you looked at us, in February, March, even parts of April, you would never imagine us sitting here with trophies in front of us. It was incredible. I'm so proud of this group and their effort. They weren't afraid. They didn't panic. They were fearless."
Oklahoma isn't merely just a powerhouse program in collegiate softball. The Sooners are currently building a softball dynasty like UConn has done in women's basketball — even if coach Gasso won't admit it.
"I don't buy into that. We just want to win. We don't stake claim in being an elite program. We just play hard and want to win. We won't own it," Gasso said. "All I try to do is be the best coach I can. When they commit to OU, I commit back to them. Our goal is to make them as great as we can."
As if Monday night's dramatic 17-inning affair wasn't enough, Oklahoma and Florida decided to mimic each other in a back-and-forth battle during the first few innings of Game 2.
"The battle we had last night (Game 1) was unbelievable," Gasso said. "We still feel a little adrenaline from that. It was a challenge."
Oklahoma substituted the dramatics of the first night with a national championship celebration with confetti, national champion T-shirts and hats along with a shiny new trophy instead.
Just like she did late Monday night with her go-ahead three-run homer in the 17th inning, Shay Knighten — also known as "the queen of clutch" — made sure the Gators wouldn't copy her.
"Being in those moments I just have to keep myself calm and stay relaxed and not think about the 'what if' and instead just go for it. It paid off," Knighten said. "To finish this way was really cool."
Knighten slammed a bases-clearing double to the right field wall to drive in three runs and single-handedly help OU reclaim a 5-3 lead in the second inning.
It was part of a four-run second inning when OU stormed back after giving up three runs in the top half of the inning.
No lead was safe — as both teams found out in Game 1. Yet, Knighten's timely double ended up giving the Sooners enough breathing room for the victory.
The Sooners fed off the electric atmosphere in front of a sellout crowd of 8,507 (a few hundred of those fans were forced to stand up at the top of the stands with no more seats left in the house.) Pockets of Gators in orange and blue held their ground, but the OU contingent put the Boomer in Sooner.
When Knighten arrived at second base with a bright smile on her face knowing the Sooners were in firm control leading 5-3, the dominant OU crowd showered her with resounding Boomer-Sooner chants.
For as dominant as Paige Parker has been all season, Game 2 was not the best night for OU's ace.
Parker got the start, but lasted only 1.2 innings during which she struggled mightily with her control. Parker yielded four hits, three walks and three earned runs including a solo home run in the second inning off the bat of Sophia Reynoso.
Fatigue could've had a lot to do with Parker's struggles given her extended work on the hill in Monday's thriller.
"Paige (Parker) wanted the ball," Gasso said. "She could tell you she didn't have her best stuff, but she's the reason why we're sitting here right now."
Fortunately for the sake of Parker's conscience, a trio of OU relievers — Mariah Lopez (2.1 innings), Nicole Mendes (1.0 innings) and Paige Lowary (2.0 innings) — answered the bell by keeping the ferocious scoring jaws of the Gators closed. Lopez earned the win while Lowary, who earned the win in Game 1, notched the save.
"To be able to give Mariah the ball as a freshman who's been waiting patiently and for her to step up and do what we asked her to do in that setting was another reason we are sitting here with a trophy," Gasso said.
Together, the trio struck out three Gators and only gave up two hits. After Florida's second-inning outburst, the Gators only mustered one run the rest of the way.
OU's tag team work out of the bullpen was perhaps the outlier of the game given the fact the Sooners weren't able to shut the door multiple times in the opener.
"Paige (Lowary) came in and she was hot and she was ready," Gasso said. "I don't know how hard she was throwing, but it looked like 100 mph. She was hitting her spots and was confident."
Lowary ended the sixth inning with a critical strikeout to strand the tying run in scoring position at second base.
"I can't believe how close and tight this team is," Lowary said. "I'm just so blessed and humbled and grateful. I don't have enough words to describe this feeling."
In Game 2, the Gators weren't able to respond with timely hits to keep the game going. It was a collective sigh of relief for OU's pitchers.
"To see four pitchers pull this off was a dream come true for a coach," Gasso said. "Every one of them had a piece of this."
Mendes got things started in the very first inning when she clobbered a ball for a solo shot to the left field corner, sneaking just feet inside the foul pole.
"I just wanted to show my team I was there for them and I had their backs," Mendes said. "The ball just happened to go over."
The Gators answered with a solo home run of their own from Reynoso in the second inning. Reynoso wanted to play darts with OU's leadoff hitter and placed the ball in the exact spot as Mendes.
The Gators weren't finished though as they strung together multiple hits to jump out in front of Oklahoma and seize early momentum.
Justine McLean turned a short blooper to left field into a double before a walk and a single loaded the bases for UF.
Aleshia Ocasio then delivered an RBI single past a diving Knighten at first base and into right field. Florida would strike for one more run in the inning following the pitching change. With the bases loaded, Lopez hit a Gator with a pitch giving UF an early 3-1 lead.
A Gators solo home run to centerfield in the third inning courtesy of Chelsea Herndon trimmed OU's lead to 5-4, but Florida inched no closer.
But just like she did in Game 1, Knighten seized all the momentum back from Florida with one swift swing of the bat.
After barely sneaking out of regional play, Oklahoma ended up winning 21 of its last 22 games en route to its fourth national championship.
"I think this," Gasso said, glancing at the Sooners' newest trophy with a smile. "Was probably the most unlikely run to a championship."