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Oklahoma's quest for a fourth straight Women's College World Series championship is off to a tremendous start.
The Sooners teed off on Texas pitching Wednesday in an 8-3 Game 1 win over their Big 12 rivals. Oklahoma is now a win away in the best-of-three series from clinching its eighth NCAA softball championship and its sixth since 2016.
Texas entered Game 1 on a roll as the tournament's No. 1 seed. The Longhorns pitched three straight one-hit shutouts in WCWS play en route to the championship series. Freshman All-American Teagan Kavan (20-2) pitched two of those shutouts and took the mound against Oklahoma.
But Wednesday's game got off to an ominous start. Kavan allowed leadoff hitter Jayda Coleman to reach on a hit-by-pitch. Six pitches later, Coleman crossed home plate.
In Oklahoma's next at-bat, All-American shortstop Tiare Jennings launched a 3-2 Kavan riseball over the left centerfield wall for a 2-0 lead and the first runs yielded by Texas at the WCWS.
The runs were the first allowed by Kavan since May 5 in the Longhorns' regular-season finale. There were more to come.
But not before Texas struck back. The Longhorns responded with a solo home run by second-team All-American Mia Scott, who sent a first-pitch Kelly Maxwell offering into the right-field stands to cut the Oklahoma lead to 2-1.
That's as close as Texas would get.
Oklahoma's Ella Parker led off the third inning with an infield single. Two batters later, second-team All-American catcher Kinzie Hansen sent her home with a two-run home run off Kavan to increase the Sooners lead to 4-1.
Kasadi Pickering then sent a 1-1 pitch over the centerfield wall for back-to-back home runs to increase the Oklahoma lead to 5-1. This one was launched off another rise ball high over the plate.
That was the end of Kavan's day. She finished the game allowing five earned runs on five hits, three home runs and two walks in 2 1/3 innings. She didn't record a strikeout.
Maxwell shuts down multiple Texas threats to secure win
Texas faced a chance to cut into Oklahoma's lead in the bottom of the third. Maxwell walked Scott and Bella Dayton to bring Texas' National Player of the Year Reese Atwood to the plate with two on and two out. But Atwood sent Maxwell's second pitch straight back to the mound for an inning-ending groundout.
The Sooners tacked on a pair of insurance runs before Texas threatened again in the sixth. The Longhorns plated two runs to cut their deficit to 7-3, then put two more runners on with two outs. Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso didn't pull Maxwell despite her starter allowing four hits and throwing a wild pitch in the inning.
Maxwell rewarded Gasso's confidence. The graduate transfer from Oklahoma State struck out Victoria Hunter swinging to end the Texas threat and maintain Oklahoma's 7-3 lead. The Sooners added another run in the seventh, and the Longhorns failed to mount a rally with their last chance in the bottom half of the inning.
Maxwell finished the game with a 1-2-3 seventh to secure the Oklahoma win. A third-pitch strike of Viviana Martinez ended the game. Maxwell earned the complete-game win while allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits, one home run and four walks. She struck out eight Texas batters.
With the win, the Sooners take a 3-2 edge in the season series against their soon-to-be SEC rivals. More importantly, they move within a win of the national championship.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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