OKLAHOMA CITY — Nothing came easy for Kelly Maxwell on Tuesday. 

In her last outing at the Women’s College World Series, she shut out UCLA and struck out a season-high 11 batters in her most dominant performance of the season. 

After three innings against Florida in an elimination game, the Sooner ace had already given up five runs on three home runs. 

Patty Gasso wasn’t going to pull the graduate transfer, so she had to find another level. 

“I knew today was going to be tough,” Maxwell said after the 6-5, eight inning victory over Florida on Tuesday. “I knew coming out the gate. I didn’t kind of have my best stuff. I knew I was going to make an adjustment middle of the game. 

“I flipped a switch, chose my fighter and went to war, I think. Just being able to attack and (not) go out without a fight.”

Maxwell didn’t allow a run in the final four innings, ending the afternoon with eight strikeouts while only allowing four hits and five walks. 

Florida coach Tim Walton knew there was a small window to rough up the lefty. 

“If you listen to my clips on my radio pregame, I said, ‘You better get Kelly Maxwell early.’ If you don’t get her early, you’re not getting her late,” Walton said. “That’s how she is.

“Whether that’s her DNA, the pitching coach, whatever it is, she’s been like that her whole career. When she gets settled, she can get tough. When she’s unsettled, she can give up some runs.”

Reagan Walsh rocketed the third long ball of the day, a solo shot that put the Gators in front 5-2, in the third inning. 

Maxwell got out of the frame, and went straight over to pitching coach Jennifer Rocha to go over the game plan. 

“I sat down with Coach Rocha and we had a conversation of kind of what was going on, kind of what needed to happen,” Maxwell said. “I think I took it personally, honestly. I knew this team was going to fight back. I was going to try to keep ’em in as long as we could.”

The conversation may have been between Rocha and Maxwell, but the results resonated throughout the entire dugout. 

“It was kind of like something in her that’s like, ‘Stop. I got to stop this. I need to be more competitive.’ You could feel it coming out, and we could feel it as a team,” Gasso said. “I think that kind of helped rally the offense as well. They’d score, we’d score one, they’d score two. Back and forth. It’s really frustrating when you’re on that side, but you got to just trust your pitcher and your pitching coach. We all do.”

Maxwell’s ability to stop the bleeding let Oklahoma creep back into the game. 

Freshman Ella Parker leveled the game in the first and did so again in the sixth, and Jayda Coleman walked it off in the eighth. 

Oklahoma’s legendary senior class lived to fight another day, and the Sooners will take on Texas in Game 1 of the WCWS Championship Series at 7 p.m. on ESPN. 

Gasso’s team is still on a quest to capture a fourth straight title. OU has plenty of experience playing for all the marbles. 

Maxwell is a rookie on this final stage of the NCAA Tournament.

She previously pitched in the WCWS three times with Oklahoma State, but the Cowgirls fell one game short of taking on OU in the Championship Series in 2022. 

Now, she’ll be front and center as the Sooners look to ride off into the sunset atop the softball world once again. 

“The fact that Kelly is going to be playing in a national championship game is one of the highlights of our season,” Gasso said.