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NORMAN — Mississippi State (43-19) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, shutting out Oklahoma (52-10) 6-0 Sunday in the Norman Super Regional finale to advance to the Women’s College World Series.
The loss ended Oklahoma’s streak of nine consecutive WCWS appearances — the longest active streak in college softball. The Sooners also dropped their first series of the 2026 season.
Mississippi State junior lefthander Delainey Everett (3-1) was brilliant in her first start of the season, allowing just three hits while striking out three and walking three in a complete game.
“I thought that was a bold thing to do,” OU head coach Patty Gasso said of MSU coach Samantha Ricketts — a former Sooner herself — starting Everett. “But she was cool and calm and just got us out. It wasn’t a lot of strikeouts, just outs.”
The Bulldogs scored in four of the first five innings, using a pair of home runs to build their lead. Kai Minor, Ella Parker and Isabela Emerling accounted for Oklahoma’s three hits.
“Sometimes when you want something so bad, sometimes it just can’t come out that way,” Gasso said. “This team wanted it bad. We were taking hacks, we just kept flying out. They punched first and they punched good. We usually punch right back, and we didn’t. You could just feel our press a little bit and that caught us.”
Notable
Oklahoma’s shutout loss snapped a streak of 399 consecutive games without being shut out. The Sooners had not been blanked since a 1-0 loss to Montana in the 2019 WCWS. It was also OU’s first shutout loss at home since an 8-0 loss to Baylor on April 16, 2015.
Freshman Kai Minor extended her hitting streak to 11 games to close the season, finishing with a .444 batting average to lead the team.
The Sooners finish 52-10 overall, marking their 10th consecutive season with 50-plus wins, and 28-3 at home. Oklahoma also won its second consecutive SEC regular season title with a 20-4 conference record.
Pitchers of record: Win — Delainey Everett (3-1). Loss — Miali Guachino (15-3).
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