The University of Arkansas softball team dropped a hard-fought, 11-inning battle to No. 7 Oklahoma at the NCAA Norman Regional on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Razorbacks (37-28 ) fell 6-5 against the Sooners (45-12 ) in a contest that lasted three hours and 36 minutes.

" I'm really proud of the way the ladies played, " said head coach Jamie Pinkerton. " They showed a lot of grit and determination. It was one of those ball games that we won't walk away wondering if we left everything on the field. We left it all out there. "

Arkansas faced the winner of the Tulsa / Oregon game late Saturday evening.

" Now we just have to bounce back, " said Pinkerton. " I asked the ladies if they've won three games in a row before. They said yes, so that's what we have to come back and do. "

Arkansas struck first behind the bat of sophomore Sandra Smith in the bottom of the first. Sophomore Jessica Bachkora led off with an infield single and was sacrificed to second by junior Kayla Johnson.

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Sophomore Miranda Dixon singled through the left side and moved Bachkora to third. Smith then laced an RBI single off the left-field fence to plate Bachkora for the 1-0 lead.

The Sooners answered in the top of the second. With one out, Savannah Long doubled and a one-out double by Jessica Legendre allowed Long to cross the plate and tie the game at one apiece.

Oklahoma's Krystle Huey singled with one out in the third. With two outs, an RBI double by Samantha Ricketts and RBI singles from Lindsey Vandever and Long put the Sooners up 4-1.

In the bottom of the inning, Johnson led off with a single through the right side and was followed by Dixon with a single to center. Smith then ripped a double to right center to score Johnson from second. On two outs, Huckabee came through with a single to left center to plate Dixon from third and bring the Lady'Backs within one, 4-3.

Wendy Trott led off the sixth with a solo home run to right field that increased the Sooners' lead to 5-3.

In the bottom of the seventh, Johnson drew a lead off walk before Dixon tied the game and forced extra innings with a 2-run home run to left center. Dixon launched her 13 th homer of the season and 20 th of her career to match the career home run record.

A back and forth battle all day, Arkansas had runners in scoring position two of the four extra innings compared to OU in just one, but after three scoreless, a solo home run by Long gave OU the 6-5 win.

The Lady'Backs tallied 13 hits in the game. Dixon was 3-for-6 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs. Huckabee was 3-for-4 and sophomore Brittany Robison stayed hot going 3-for-5.