The Oklahoma baseball team picked the wrong part of the regular season in which to struggle.

In the penultimate weekend of the regular season, the No. 16 Sooners have now dropped both of their first two games against Kentucky, falling 8-5, on Saturday. The Wildcats clinched the set with the win and the Oklahoma, which plays No. 1 Texas next week, seems unlikely to host a regional in the NCAA Tournament without taking that series against the Longhorns or winning the SEC Tournament.

Kentucky jumped on OU quickly, scoring four runs in the first inning another in the second to open a 5-1 lead. Oklahoma starter Cade Crossland walked two batters, hit another and gave up sacrifice fly, a two-run triple and an RBI single as the Wildcats sent eight batters to the plate in the opening frame.

Crossland had been staked to a 2-0 lead before he even took the mound after Easton Carmichael knocked in Jason Walk with an RBI single and Jaxon Willits followed with an RBI groundout. But the Sooners right-hander ultimately worked just three innings, giving up those five runs on three eights, four walks and and two hit batters.

Kentucky tacked on three more runs to put the game away in the fifth inning, though Oklahoma brought the tying run to the plate in the sixth. Scott Mudler hit a two-out, two-run double in the inning an inning after he popped a solo home run. The double put him at second base and Mason Hamlin at third. But Dawson Willis lined out to center field ending things.

The Sooners will almost certainly drop in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll rankings when the poll is released Monday. An upset over the Longhorns could keep Norman Regional hopes alive, though OU will likely earn a No. 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Sunday’s finale against Kentucky is scheduled for noon Sunday.

There’s little question about what the biggest game on the college softball calendar is Saturday, with No. 2 Oklahoma set to take on No. 1 Texas A&M in the SEC championship game one day after the Sooners pulled off the biggest comeback win in the event’s history.

As any college softball or baseball fan knows, though, even the most consequential games are occasionally subject to change.

The Sooners’ highly anticipated matchup with the Aggies has been moved up four hours, from 4 p.m. CT to noon, with the SEC citing “projected weather conditions” for the Athens, Georgia area as the reason for the late switch.

REQUIRED READING: How OU softball’s faith paved way for Sooners’ record comeback win into SEC title game

Even with the new time, the stakes of the matchup remain the same. Oklahoma is seeking the SEC title in its first year in the conference and its seventh conference championship in its past eight attempts, with the previous six victories coming in the Big 12. Whoever wins Saturday will not only earn an automatic berth to the 2025 NCAA Tournament — not that either teams’ postseason aspirations are in doubt — but will likely lock up the No. 1 overall national seed.

Though they compete in the same conference, this will be the first meeting between the Sooners and Aggies this season.

Here’s an updated look at the weather for Saturday’s game, as well as how to watch it after the time and TV channel switch:

After already having moved the first pitch up four hours, the SEC has delayed the start of its 2025 softball championship game between Oklahoma and Texas A&M due to weather conditions in the Athens, Georgia area.

The league has said additional updates will follow, though no restart time has been set.

SEC softball championship weather update

The SEC moved Oklahoma’s meeting with Texas A&M in the league’s 2025 softball tournament championship game at Jack Turner Softball Stadium in Athens, Georgia up four hours to account for inclement weather that’s expected to hit the area later in the day Saturday.

Rain is expected throughout the day Saturday in Athens, though according to the latest forecast from The Weather Channel, the precipitation is estimated to let up around noon CT, with the chance of rain at less than 30% from noon CT until 4 p.m., at which point rain is once again expected.

Moving the game back to Sunday wouldn’t have avoided the issue. It’s projected to rain throughout the day Sunday in Athens, though there’s a brief window from 9 a.m. CT until noon when the chance of rain is never greater than 30%.

SEC softball championship time today

• Date: Saturday, May 10
• Time: Noon ET
• Location: Jack Turner Softball Stadium (Athens, Georgia)

The first pitch of the 2025 SEC softball championship is scheduled for noon CT on Saturday. The game had originally been scheduled for 4 p.m. CT, but projected weather conditions for the Athens area later in the day prompted the SEC to move the game up four hours.

REQUIRED READING: OU softball breaks SEC Tournament records in rally vs Arkansas: ‘The future is bright’

What TV channel is the SEC softball championship on today?

The 2025 SEC softball championship game will air on SEC Network. The game originally was scheduled to be on ESPN. Because the game is taking place 90 minutes before the ACC championship (which will also be on ESPN), the game was moved to the SEC Network.

Streaming options for the game include the ESPN app — with a cable login — and Fubo, the latter of which offers a free trial to potential subscribers.

Oklahoma was down, but Patty Gasso’s Sooners are never out. 

After falling behind 5-seeded Arkansas 6-1 in the third inning of Friday’s SEC Tournament semifinal, the top-seeded Sooners got to work. 

Ella Parker homered in the third, freshman Sydney Barker capped off her two-home run day with a solo shot in the fourth, and catcher Isabela Emerling followed her up withe a bomb of her own to pull OU within two. 

Ailana Agbayani made it a one-run game with another solo shot in the sixth, and the top of Oklahoma’s order had a chance to complete the comeback in the bottom of the seventh. 

Freshman Gabbie Garcia finished the job. 

She crushed a three-run shot, OU’s sixth of the game, to walk it off and send the Sooners to the SEC Championship with an 8-6 win over Arkansas in Athens, GA. 

The six bombs set an SEC Tournament record for home runs in a game by a team. It was also the largest deficit overcome in tournament history.

Gasso provided the spark for the Sooners. 

OU came to the dugout trailing by five runs in the middle of the third, and the legendary coach ripped into her squad. 

“Even when we’re down, we’re never out. That’s the message,” Gasso told the broadcast on ESPN2. “… One big hit can get us right back in it.”

Parker responded with the solo shot to cut it to 6-2 after three, and the Sooners continued to chip away. 

“Honestly I just give it all up to God, give it all up to my team,” Garcia said after the win. “… That was all them honestly … I have an army behind me.”

The Sooners will take on the winner of No. 2-seed Texas A&M and 3-seeded Texas in the SEC Championship on Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN.

Left-hander Kierston Deal got the start in the circle for OU, and Oklahoma quickly found itself in the hole. 

She allowed a single and a walk in the first two batters. Deal did get Arkansas star Bri Ellis to pop out, but another walk loaded the bases and Kailey Wycoff’s single put the Razorbacks on top 1-0. 

In the next at-bat, Ella McDowell doubled the lead with a sacrifice fly, but Deal got Kennedy Miller to fly out to limit the first inning damage to just two runs. 

Deal’s outing wouldn’t last much longer. 

She allowed a one-out double off the top of the wall in the second, and after a ground out moved the runner to third, Gasso switched the lefty out for Isabella Smith. 

Smith battled Raigan Kramer, inducing a slow-roller in the infield, but Agbayani was unable to get to the ball fast enough at second base to get the out at first and OU fell behind 3-0 after the Razorbacks’ first two trips to the plate. 

Barker, another true freshman, got the Sooners on the board with a two-out solo shot in the second, but the excitement was short lived as another Arkansas walk was turned into a run in the third. 

Smith issued a free pass to Courtney Day to start the frame, then Wycoff belted a homer to right field to extend the Razorback lead out to 5-1.

Another run came in when a pitch got past Emerling behind the plate with McDowell on third, and Gasso again made a change to bring Paytn Monticelli in for Smith. 

Monticelli allowed a walk, but got a pair of fly outs to head to the bottom of the third down 6-1.

Gasso was shown on the ESPN2 broadcast ripping into her team before the bottom of the third, and Parker heard the message loud and clear. 

She homered in the bottom of the inning to cut the Arkansas advantage to 6-2.

“I think it’s just a really relaxed environment,” Garcia said of the meeting after the game. “Telling us no matter how big the lead is, trust our bats, trust our skills and that we’re going to get back into it just one thing at a time.”

Monticelli kept the Razorbacks off the board for the first time in the fourth, which allowed OU’s offense to claw back into the game. 

Cydney Sanders led off the frame with a single, then Arkansas turned a double play that proved to be crucial. 

Barker crushed her second homer of the day right after the double play, and she was followed by another solo bomb from Emerling to cut the deficit to 6-4 with three innings to play.

The Sooners put runners on the corners in the fifth with one out, prompting Arkansas to bring in ace pitcher Robyn Herron. 

The talented lefty struck out Garcia, then got a fantastic diving play from McDowell at third to rob Sanders of an RBI single and keep the Razorbacks’ two-run lead intact heading into the sixth.

Agbayani hit the Sooners’ fifth solo shot of the day in the sixth, which set the SEC Tournament record for home runs in a single game, and Kasidi Pickering started things off for the Sooners in the bottom of the seventh with the tournament’s top seed trailing 6-5.

OU put a pair in scoring position for Garcia — Parker hit into a fielder’s choice and Nelly McEnroe-Marinas doubled to the wall in right-center — and the freshman shortstop crushed a no-doubter to compete the comeback. 

Freshman left-hander Audrey Lowry took over for Monticelli in the fifth, and the victory wouldn’t have been possible without her steady hand. She retired all nine batters she faced, striking out three Razorbacks. 

Crucially, Sam Landry never had to come out of the bullpen, so the OU ace will be ready to battle the Aggies or the Longhorns on Saturday.