The Big 12 Conference had itself an unbelievable Monday night, and it was unlike anything the conference has experienced. But it also was a clear display of the conference’s growth, diversity and excitement, all in the span of about two hours.
Oklahoma Starts the Fun for Kansas
The excitement began in the late afternoon/early evening when Dayton Tockey hit a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift Oklahoma to a dramatic 8-7 victory over Georgia Tech in a winner-take-all NCAA regional final Monday at Mac Nease Baseball Park in Atlanta, where the Sooners were the designated home team. It was quite a turnaround. The Sooners trailed 7-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning before mounting their rally. And thanks to Oklahoma’s rally, the Kansas Jayhawks will host their first-ever Super Regionals this weekend in an old-school Big 12 showdown with a trip to the College World Series on the line.
West Virginia Baseball Heroics
Moving through Monday evening, Armani Guzman hit the walk-off single to score Brodie Kresser for the game-winning run in the 10th inning as West Virginia won its NCAA Baseball Regional 6-5. In the regional, Guzman hit .455 with four doubles and seven RBI. Sophomore Gavin Kelly was named the Tournament MVP after hitting .400 with three home runs, including one on Monday, and had eight RBI in five games.
On the mound, redshirt junior Maxx Yehl bounced back after a rough start on Saturday with 5.0 innings on Monday, allowing one run while striking out six and walking none. Sophomore Chansen Cole tossed 1.2 scoreless innings in relief with two strikeouts while junior Dawson Montesa earned the win with 0.2 innings and a strikeout. The Mountaineers will remain at home for the Super Regionals and will face Cal Poly.
The scene afterwards in Morgantown is everything college sports should be about.
Texas Tech’s Two-Win Night
Fast-Forward a couple of hours, and it was the Texas Tech Red Raiders softball team (61-8) defeating top-seeded Alabama twice Monday night to reach the finals. Mia Williams delivered the walk-off home run in the first game for a 5-4 win and NiJaree Canady showed her dominance in a 2-0 win in the second game to put Texas Tech back in the title series, which begins Wednesday against the defending national champion Longhorns.
Canady powered the No. 11 Red Raiders to a 2-0 win over the Crimson Tide in Monday’s nightcap, recording her fourth career WCWS shutout. She gave up just two hits and finished with six strikeouts, as Alabama (56-9) failed to score for only the second time this season. According to ESPN Research, Canady became just the fourth pitcher in WCWS history to record a shutout in four different tournaments.
Texas Tech has made the championship series in its first two WCWS appearances, joining Texas A&M (1983-84) as the only programs to do so. It will be the first title rematch since the WCWS adopted the best-of-three series format in 2005.
