The Arkansas Razorbacks’ softball team had the tying runs on second and third base with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning against defending national champion Oklahoma, but Paige Lowery slammed the door shut.
Lowery struck out Nicole Schroeder, Madison Yannetti and Katie Warrick to leave the tying runs stranded as the Sooners held on to beat the Razorbacks 5-3 Saturday night in an NCAA regional elimination game.
Arkansas was the home team despite the regional being played at Oklahoma’s Marita Hynes Field.
Lowery, the Sooners’ fourth pitcher, recorded her eighth save of the season after allowing singles by Tori Cooper and A.J. Belans to open the bottom of the seventh inning.
Oklahoma (51-9) advanced to play North Dakota State while Arkansas (31-24) ended its season going 0-2 in the regional, including a 5-4 loss to Tulsa on Friday night.
The Sooners took a 4-3 lead over the Razorbacks with a run in the fourth inning when Nicole Mendes hit a two-out single, then advanced to second base, third and scored on three wild pitches by Grace Moll.
Oklahoma made it 5-3 in the sixth inning on Shad Knighten’s RBI single, which scored Kelsey Arnold.
Arkansas scored three runs in the first inning to take a 3-2 lead. Autumn Russell singled and went to third on Loren Krzysko double’s. Cooper followed with a two-run single and scored on Yannetti’s sacrifice fly.
Oklahoma scored two runs in the first inning on RBI singles by Sydney Romero and Nicole Pendley.
Russell went 3 for 4 for Arkansas and Cooper was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI.
Caroline Hedgecock — the Razorbacks’ third pitcher after starter Autumn Storms and Moll — held Oklahoma to 1 run over the final 3 1/3 innings.
The Sooners beat the Razorbacks for the ninth consecutive time and improved to 23-2 against Arkansas, including 5-0 in NCAA Tournament games.
Arkansas’ last victory over Oklahoma was 11-9 on April 9, 2009.
Oklahoma is now 100-45 all-time in 24 NCAA Tournament appearances, including 65-19 in regional games.
The Sooners found themselves playing the Arkansas in an elimination game after North Dakota State upset the Sooners 3-2 earlier Saturday in the conclusion of a game that was suspended Friday night because of severe weather.
Oklahoma was the first defending national championship softball team to lose its NCAA Tournament opener the next season since 1985, when Pacific beat UCLA 3-1. The Bruins went on to win their second consecutive NCAA title.
The Razorbacks made their seventh NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2013.