Texas Tech topples ‘historic, legendary’ Oklahoma dynasty to reach WCWS finals

OKLAHOMA CITY — We gather here today to say goodbye to the Oklahoma softball dynasty, and hello to the NIL era.

Because if Texas Tech just proved anything, it’s that you can buy a championship. Last summer, the school spent a million dollars and change to lure the best player in softball to Lubbock, Texas, in hopes of making it to its first-ever Women’s College World Series.

Naturally, NiJaree Canady upped the ante.

The junior transfer from Stanford headlined a 3-2 defeat of No. 2 Oklahoma in the Women’s College World Series semifinal on Monday, ending Oklahoma’s pursuit of a fifth straight national championship. Instead, the Red Raiders will attempt to win their first, starting with Game 1 of the championship series against Texas on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. Game 2 follows Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, and Game 3, if necessary, is slotted for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.

“Tip of the hat to Oklahoma. What they’ve done — historic, legendary,” Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco said postgame. “When I was a kid, we grew up talking about John Wooden and UCLA basketball and I still think of John Wooden and UCLA basketball when I think of basketball. That’s what Patty Gasso’s done and what Oklahoma’s done. Great champions.”

During Wooden’s 27-year run in Los Angeles, he won 10 NCAA titles. Since Gasso first started coaching Oklahoma in 1995, she has accumulated eight.

Yet Gasso will probably never describe the powerhouse program she built as a dynasty. Even though Oklahoma is the only program to win four straight titles, and even though the Sooners have reached the postseason every year she’s been at Oklahoma. (There was no tournament in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Yes, winning is fun. Gasso will admit that much. But building a dynasty was never on her radar.

“I don’t think about that. I just do my job,” Gasso said postgame. “That’s all I’m trying to do is turn girls into women and help them become elite softball athletes, but at the same time make sure they learn about life so they become good mothers, they’re good daughters, they’re good friends. That they try to live the right way and do the right things. Those are the lessons that are going on that are probably more important to me than wins and losses. I want them to walk away and say, ‘I’m equipped for anything.’”

Against Texas Tech, that unintentional dynasty was slowly withering away all game, struggling to mount anything against Canady. Of course, nothing is easy when it comes to overcoming the Sooners.

“We’re never going to give up without a fight,” Oklahoma sophomore Ella Parker said.

In the top of the seventh, Canady was one strike away from shutting out the Sooners, who have not been held scoreless in more than 300 games, since exactly six years ago Monday, per the ESPN broadcast. Then, Oklahoma junior Abigale Dayton stepped up to home plate with everything going against her. The Sooners trailed 2-0 but had a runner on. There were two outs. It was the top of the seventh. And she was staring down a 0-2 count.

Dayton hammered one out of the park, bringing squealing Oklahoma fans to their feet and tying the score at two.

Believe. pic.twitter.com/hYgfoEuZU5

— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 3, 2025

But if the Sooners suggested that one pitch is all it takes, the Red Raiders proved it. Texas Tech redshirt sophomore Lauren Allred hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh to secure the program’s first-ever appearance in the WCWS championship series.

Bye, bye Boomer Sooners.

“I honestly think it was a very cinematic way to go out,” OU senior Cydney Sanders said.

“I think it was a great way to go out, honestly. I’m very proud of this team. We literally had 14 new players, that is something you’ve never seen before. Coming to the World Series, everyone was against us, and we ended up in the semifinals.”

🗣️ “THE RED RAIDERS STORM TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES!!”#WCWS x 🎥 ESPN / @TexasTechSB pic.twitter.com/aJ08wP1YPV

— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 3, 2025

An eerily accomplished feeling, but a new one, nonetheless.

“I haven’t felt this in a while. No one is feeling sorry for me about that, I’m sure,” Gasso said, fighting back tears. “You always want to raise a trophy and celebrate down at Toby Keith’s place (a bar in OKC), that’s kind of been our place for the last four years. I just — I don’t know, it’s hard to talk about.”

When Gasso first sat down at her postgame news conference, she immediately called out the box of tissues that was within arm’s reach. It was the kind of comment you make to laugh so you don’t cry.

And yet, for the next 25 minutes, a tissue was never far from her hand, if not in it.

“Losing is not fun, but losing is life,” she said.

Preventing such a feeling will only get harder amid the new era of college sports, where price tags reign supreme. Gasso said the only way to compete with the transfer portal and NIL deals is to have players who are “100 percent bought in.”

“I’ve never tried to stop anyone if they’re ever trying to leave, because I want them to find what they want. If it isn’t here, it isn’t here. …” she said. “The right people need to be in your program, giving everything they have.”

We might never again see a four-year run of dominance like Gasso and Oklahoma just put together, but with the right people in place, they just might take down a million-dollar opponent every once in a while.

(Top photo of Oklahoma on Monday: Sarah Phipps / The Oklahoman / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)