Jayda Coleman's walk-off home run completes Oklahoma rally, sends Sooners to WCWS finals

Oklahoma’s newcomers carried most of the day Tuesday.

Freshmen Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering came up with big plays and Oklahoma State transfer Kelly Maxwell settled in after a rough start to give the Sooners a chance in the Women’s College World Series semifinal elimination game.

But in the eighth inning, it was one of the Sooners’ fantastic senior core that turned in the game’s biggest moment.

Jayda Coleman blasted a leadoff home run in the eighth, belting Keagan Rothrock’s 2-1 offering out to left field to give the Sooners a 6-5 win at Devon Park to send them to the WCWS Championship Series.

The Sooners (57-7) will take on Texas in the best-of-three series beginning at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday (ESPN).

The game had plenty of drama, with the Sooners falling behind 2-0, 4-2 and 5-2 before mounting their comeback.

Maxwell settled in after a rough start where she allowed three home runs in the first three innings to give the Sooners’ offense a chance to work.

It wasn’t easy against Florida freshman Keagan Rothrock, who has become the Gators’ ace of late.

OU had an excellent chance in the seventh after Pickering belted a double to the base of the wall in right-center with one out.

The Gators walked Rylie Boone, though, and Rothrock struck out Cydney Sanders and got Avery Hodge to fly out to send the game to extra innings.

Here are three more quick takeaways from the win:

Leadoff walks hurt Kelly Maxwell, Sooners 

Control has been an issue recently for Maxwell.

It was again Tuesday, as both of Maxwell’s two walks in the first two innings resulted in runs for the Gators.

Maxwell started the game by walking Skylar Wallace, then after a fielder’s choice, former Sooner Jocelyn Erickson belted a two-run home run.

Maxwell led off the second with a walk as well, as Maxwell missed on a 3-2 pitch. Ariel Kowalewski quickly followed with a home run to put Florida up 4-2.

Maxwell walked the leadoff batter in the sixth, with Ava Brown taking a 3-2 pitch just off the outside corner.

But this time, Florida couldn’t get a runner across.

Ella Parker leaves the game after scary collision

Ella Parker took the brunt of the damage, but Parker doled some out as well.

The freshman didn’t slow down after narrowly missing a homer to right-center in the fifth inning.

When Parker got to second base, Florida shortstop Skylar Wallace was waiting.

Wallace’s elbow made contact with Parker’s face at second base and both players were sent to the ground, writhing in pain.

After several minutes, Parker got up and left the field under her own power, smiling and laughing with teammates as Maya Bland replaced her as a pinch-runner.

Wallace remained in the game.

Wallace was called for obstruction on the play, though the ball bounced away after the collision anyway.

Umpires reviewed to see whether Wallace’s contact with Parker was malicious, but quickly ruled it was incidental. 

Despite having a runner at second with no outs, the Sooners couldn’t push the tying run across.

Avery Hodge makes the most of chance

When Alynah Torres left Saturday’s game against UCLA with an injury, it looked like the lower part of the Sooners’ order could take a significant hit.

But Hodge came up big in the critical sixth inning, with a one-out double to left field and eventually came around to score the tying run on Parker’s single to center.

Hodge had a second-inning single as well.

It was just Hodge’s sixth extra-base hit of the season.

Prior to her double in Monday’s game, Hodge hadn’t had an extra-base hit since April 9 at Wichita State.