OU softball may not have a lot of experience in women's college world competitions on the roster.
But there are a lot of Cydney Sanders.
The only senior Sanders had played in WCW games before this season, Sanders exploded a pair of home runs on a huge Sunday in a knockout match at Devon Park.
OU (52-8) will be in contact with Texas Tech and Ace Nijaree Canada in the WCWS semi-finals on Monday at 6pm. The Sooners need to beat Red Raiders twice to get it back into the WCWS Championship Series and hope to stay alive with a fifth straight title.
Sanders entered the game with a 29-place career WCW hit and two home runs, a fifth inning inning in the 2023 Championship Series game, before bringing the Sooners into Florida State in 2023, then beat Florida State 6-5 in the semifinals last season.
Sanders entered Sunday's game with 11 home runs this season, but has not yet made it to Homer, with only 14 singles in this NCAA tournament.
Sanders ended the first foul as the first, but then shone in the next two bats.
Ranked first in the third inning, Sanders followed Nelly McEnroe-Marinas’ single, two tiebreakers on the right-to-left side of Lyndsey Grein’s 3-2 dress change.
Then, on the fifth time, Sanders jumped out further from Grein with a 3-2 contribution, which was the inside corner that Sanders opened and drove to the left for a tough drive.
That was a strong support for Sam Landry in the circle.
The victory was OU's ninth straight win in the WCW, breaking the longest winning streak in game history with Florida State.
Oregon led 1-0 in Dezianna Patmon's home run, then Isabela Emerling tied up his solo home run in the second half.
Here are three other gains from Sooners’ victory:
The day before the game, Sooners coach Patty Gasso said Oregon coach Melyssa Lombardi was "like a sister" to her, calling Sydney Romero, Lombardy assistant and another former OU star, "I have always had one of my favorites."
During the pre-match lineup exchange, Gasso and Lombardi shared an extended hug.
After Sunday's victory, Gasso is now 64-3 against her former assistant.
Tim Walton of Florida is the only former GASSO assistant to beat the legendary OU coach.
Landry started OU’s first two games in the WCW and six of the first seven games in the NCAA Championship.
Gasso's deal with Junior Kierston was traded in the circle with the Ducks, but after Landry threw 243 mergers in the first two WCWS games of the Sooners.
Deal retired before Dezianna Patmon's top five batsmen with a 1-0 lead in Oregon State centered on a solo home run.
The Ducks started the third shot with back-to-back singles before turning two games on the Sooners’ defense (their sixth WCW), a pop-up window tracked by Shallow’s shortstop Gabbie Garcia.
Garcia doubled Regan Legg, who strayed from the bag on the second shot.
Then Gaso went to Landry from the bullpen.
After Landry faced the first court of Rylee McCoy, the first batsman she faced, Sooners'Ace was charged with violating the violation of his hands for five seconds on the rubber, which made it 2-0.
Landry ended up leaving McCoy and then hit Paige Sinicki to finish the game.
Landry threw 4 1/3 of the points without the division, hitting 6 innings and allowing only two hits, leaving the Sooners in a showdown against Gerry Glasco and Texas Tech.
Landry played for Louisiana before Glasco took over the Red Raiders in the offseason, and Landry moved to Norman for her final college season.
OU started quickly in the offense against Oregon.
But Sooners cannot be used.
Kasidi Pickering and Ella Parker started the bottom of the first inning with back-to-back singles, putting the runners in the corner.
Oregon starter Elise Sokolsky escaped the jam and allowed Sydney Barker to pop up to second place, Garcia lined up to second, then- Sanders fouled Sanders to a third time after Nelly McEnroe-Marinas's walk filled the base with the base.
Sooners scored 6-6, with scores of 1 and scored 1 in WCWS.
But Ryan For OU track and field in Oklahoma. Does Ryan have a story idea? He can contact raber@oklahoman.com Or on Twitter @Ryaber. register OU SOONERS Communication Access more OU coverage. Support Ryan’s work and other Oklahoma journalists’ work by purchasing Today's Digital Subscription.