OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s magical championship run is over. But just as Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco predicted, the Sooners didn’t go out easily — all the way down to their final pitch.

In the seventh inning of Monday night’s Women’s College World Series semifinal, Oklahoma nine-hole hitter Abigale Dayton belted a two-strike, two-out home run over the right-field wall off Texas Tech superstar pitcher NiJaree Canady to tie the score.

But the Red Raiders (53-12) weathered the “Sooner Magic” in their first WCWS appearance.

Mihyia Davis singled. Hailey Toney doubled. And Lauren Allred walked off the four-time defending national champions with an RBI sacrifice fly, as Texas Tech advanced to the WCWS finals by a score of 3-2.

In the best-of-three championship series that begins Wednesday, Texas Tech will face Texas, which eliminated Tennessee earlier Monday.

The Red Raiders or the Longhorns have never won a softball national title. Texas, which reached the finals for the third time in the past four years, lost to Oklahoma in 2022 and 2024.

“We didn’t want it to be easy. It’s Oklahoma. You knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Glasco said. “This was our chance at forever — to leave a legacy at Texas Tech that will be remembered forever. Our team has done that. They’ve left a legacy.”

So have the Sooners, who won’t be playing in the championship series for the first time since 2018.

Glasco compared Sooners coach Patty Gasso to legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden and likened Oklahoma’s dominance to that of the Bruins at their height in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Just a privilege for my kids to play against a team that well-coached, that talented and just what Oklahoma is,” Glasco said. “A great privilege to be on the field with them.”

Despite relying on 14 new players this season, the Sooners (52-9) returned to the WCWS as the favorite. In the opener, Oklahoma toppled Tennessee on sophomore Ella Parker’s three-run walk-off homer.

The Sooners had a little magic left for Canady, who had shut them down through the first six innings Monday. Dayton’s third homer all year left Oklahoma looking inevitable once again.

But Canady said the Red Raiders had thrived with people doubting them.

“They didn’t think we’d get to this point,” she said. “We didn’t have any pressure on us.”

After leaving Stanford last offseason, Canady signed an NIL deal worth more than $1 million to go to Texas Tech.

Glasco told the reigning USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year then that if she led them, the rest of the Red Raiders would eventually grow mentally tough enough to compete in the WCWS, including against the powerhouses such as Oklahoma.

Canady carried Texas Tech all the way to the final inning, becoming the first player to throw every pitch in the WCWS for a team to reach the championship series since UCLA’s Rachel Garcia in 2019, according to ESPN Research.

Glasco noted that Canady’s competitive edge had been infectious to the rest of the Red Raiders. And when Canady needed her teammates most after surrendering the game-tying home run, they delivered.

“We just played for each other,” Canady said.

“Honestly, it was a very cinematic way to go out. A great way to go out.”

Oklahoma senior first baseman Cydney Sanders

The biggest victory of his career was still bittersweet for Glasco.

His Red Raiders defeated Oklahoma pitcher Sam Landry, who played for Glasco at Louisiana last season. Landry said she had the name of Glasco’s late daughter — Geri Ann Glasco, who died in a motor vehicle accident in 2019 — written on her glove for the game.

Landry threw 122 pitches and kept the Sooners within striking distance after giving up two runs in the second inning. After the game, Glasco embraced Landry on the field, telling her that he loved her.

“I would’ve rather her finished her career against anybody besides me, and I would’ve rather played anybody than her to go to the championship,” Glasco said. “But we don’t control that.”

Oklahoma players battled tears while contemplating their first WCWS exit while playing for the Sooners. In the postgame locker room, Gasso told her players that it was time to begin “a new legacy” at Oklahoma.

“I just shared with them how much fun I had with them, coaching them, watching them grow, watching them be hungry, watching them never quit,” Gasso said. “The last inning heroics and come-from-behind wins has been something incredible.”

Oklahoma senior first baseman Cydney Sanders, who homered twice Sunday in the win over Oregon, said even though the title run is over, the Sooners at least went down swinging.

“Honestly, it was a very cinematic way to go out,” she said. “A great way to go out.”