The most fans in attendance at Wilkins Stadium in its history were treated to what may be the craziest game the stadium has ever seen on Wednesday night. Wichita State battled No. 2 University of Oklahoma to the very end, losing a barnburner, 19-16.
19-16. You read that right.
The 35 total runs scored in the game are the most in program history, topping an 18-16 win against Iowa State University in 2014. The 19 runs allowed are the second-most in team history, behind a 24-7 loss to Oklahoma in 2021.
Wilkins Stadium was sold out with 1,245 fans, a record-breaking attendance.
Despite the loss, WSU head coach Kristi Bredbenner was ecstatic to put one of the best teams in the county on upset alert.
“To me, it’s a victory because we played as a team,” Bredbenner said. “We hadn’t played like that, in my opinion, all year. I felt like we were for each other. We didn’t let individual issues or disappointments take us down.”
Oklahoma, the four-time defending NCAA champions, beat the Shockers for the 44th time in a row and improved to 30-1 on the season. WSU dropped to 16-16.
In the third inning, the Shockers found themselves behind, 14-3, to the Sooners. But the team showed zero quit in coming nearly all the way back. In a unique image, both sets of fans gave their teams a standing ovation at the game’s end.
While walking out of the stadium, many fans were heard talking about what an incredible game they just watched.
“I mean, we’re not supposed to beat them, right?” Bredbenner said. “And, you know, on paper, they should beat us every time. And, you know, we went out there and competed our asses off today.”
Wichita State hadn’t scored more than one run in a game against Oklahoma since 2021. The Shockers scored a run in every inning except the seventh and final one.
Playing with no expectations in a game they weren’t favored to win, Wichita State’s batters swung freely all night.
“We came into this game not putting pressure on ourselves to … score all these runs and everything,” junior Taylor Sedlacek said. “We just went up there kind of carefree.”
Graduate student Lauren Lucas reiterated that Wichita State had nothing to lose coming into the game.
“If we lose, well, we were supposed to, and if we win, that would be awesome,” Lucas said. “So go up there, take your hacks, and what’s the worst that could happen? And that’s kind of what we saw today, is everyone just kind of taking their hacks and seeing the success from it.”
Junior Alex Aguilar struggled with her control early, throwing nine balls in her first 15 pitches and loading the bases. She allowed two runs but appeared to get out of the jam by coercing a two-out infield popup.
However, the ball found a soft spot in the WSU defense just in front of junior shortstop Sami Hood’s glove. Two batters later, a triple cleared the bases and Oklahoma came out of the inning with a commanding 8-0 lead.
Bredbenner said WSU’s pitchers have to be able to make teams like Oklahoma earn their hits rather than getting free passes with walks. Still, she said most of the credit for the Sooners’ offensive explosion goes to their hitters.
“I mean, they’re a good team,” Bredbenner said. “There are some pitches that you’ve got to tip your cap and say, ‘Hey, you know, that’s a great pitch.’”
Aguilar got pulled from the circle without completing an inning, and sophomore Chloe Barber stepped up in relief.
To say Barber struggled over the past month is an understatement. She gave up at least three earned runs in each of her appearances during the past month. Since Feb. 24, Barber had made seven appearances and allowed 23 runs in 16 ⅓ innings as her season-long ERA ballooned from 1.82 to 4.39.
Her three-run-allowed streak continued on Wednesday. Barber gave up some runs on big OU hits, but WSU’s offense chipped away at the lead during her three runs in the circle.
With the wind pushing to the outfield, the Shockers crushed five home runs, their most in a game since the season-opener.
In the first inning, graduate student Ellee Eck smashed a ball into the video board in center field. Later in the frame, Sedlacek hit a ball hard but pulled it into foul territory. Two pitches later, she straightened out a hit for another home run.
Sedlacek credited Eck’s home run for lifting the team’s spirits after falling behind early on.
“I really think Ellee’s leadoff home run definitely, like, brought the energy back into it right away,” Sedlacek said. “Because that automatically made everybody, like, super hyped up about the game after that.”
After the team manufactured a run in the second, senior Camryn Compton hit her fourth home run in the past three games. She sent three foul balls over the backstop fence before ripping one over the fence in center field.
When junior Sami Hood hit a three-run bomb later in the inning, WSU cut the Oklahoma lead to five runs, 14-9. Barber kept the Sooners scoreless in the top of the fourth, and WSU pushed across three more to cut the deficit all the way down to two.
Then, disaster struck in the fifth inning. After allowing a single, double and walk to lead off the fifth, Barber was hit in the chest by a line drive and lobbed an underhanded toss over WSU’s first baseman, allowing two runs to score.
It’s the second consecutive game where a WSU pitcher has been injured by a line drive. Oklahoma built up a seven-run cushion, leading 19-12 after the frame.
But yet again, the Shockers didn’t quit. With two outs, Sedlacek smacked her second home run of the day, a three-RBI shot to dead center field to push the deficit back to four runs.
Wichita State’s players had never played in a high-scoring game like this one.
“I actually joked in the middle of it that we brought the Wichita State football team back,” Lucas said.
Freshman Ava Sliger got a rattled-looking OU squad to go down scoreless in the sixth, and for the first time in the entire game, Wichita State came up to bat trailing by less than five runs.
Oklahoma looked shaken to begin the bottom of the sixth. OU’s right fielder then let a ball get past her, and later on, the Sooners’ catcher threw a ball over the third baseman when a WSU runner was stranded in the basepaths, allowing a run.
But the Sooners escaped with a three-run lead when, with runners on first and second, Lucas hit a ground ball to the shortstop.
OU freshman Gabbie Garcia made a diving play and threw the ball to third base for a force out to end the inning. Bredbenner singled that play as a good at-bat where the Shockers were unlucky not to score.
“That ball gets through against any other team, and we’re still rolling in that game,” Bredbenner said.
Wichita State was given another chance to make history when Sliger held the Sooners scoreless again in the seventh. However, Wichita State went down quietly in its half of the seventh for the first time all game.
The Shockers will return to conference play over the weekend, playing the University of South Florida in a three-game series. The first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday, March 28, in Wilkins Stadium.
Lucas acknowledged that she’s seen chatter on social media that this season has been “underwhelming” so far. That makes the highly attended game against Oklahoma more important.
“For us to put on that kind of a show in front of Wichita proves that, you know, the season’s not over,” Lucas said. “And don’t give up on us, and we’re not going anywhere, and we’re still going to compete and be a team worth spending your money on.”
Wakita Sioux • Mar 27, 2025 at 8:56 am
BOOMER SOONER!