Oklahoma
OU Softball: Oklahoma Rides Fast Start to Open Series With Win Over UCF
Oklahoma began its final Big 12 road trip with a bang.
Patty Gasso’s team plated five runs in the first inning, complete with a two-RBI single from Kasidi Pickering and a two-run bomb from Alyssa Brito to set the tone for a steady win in the series opener.
The No. 2-ranked Sooners went on to beat UCF 10-2 at the UCF Softball Complex on Friday.
OU (43-4. 19-3 Big 12) maintained its lead atop the conference with the win over the Knights (28-19, 10-12).
UCF helped the Sooners out immediately.
Jayda Coleman beat out a throw for an infield single and Ella Parker reached on an error, putting immediate pressure on Kaitlyn Felton.
The Knights’ starting pitcher didn’t help herself out, as she walked Tiare Jennings to load the bases with no outs.
Kinzie Hansen broke the deadlock with an RBI-single, but Ella Parker was thrown out at home to make the first out of the game.
Had Gasso kept Parker on third, she would have likely come home anyways.
Pickering singled through the left side and Brito hammered a full-count delivery to left field, putting OU up 5-0 and ending Felton’s first stint of the evening after just six batters.
Alynah Torres and Cydney Sanders both walked with one out, but OU was able to further the damage after Rylie Boone struck out and Coleman bounced out to second base.
After building the lead, Oklahoma stayed aggressive and attacked pitches early in at-bats, which produced mixed results in the second inning.
OU was able to load the bases with one out, but couldn’t bring any runs across.
Coleman added to the lead in the third, however.
The senior centerfielder stepped in and belted her 11th home run of the season, an opposite field bomb with two outs that put the Sooners up 6-0.
Kelly Maxwell finally had to work around traffic on the basepaths in the bottom of the third inning.
With Stormy Kotzelnick already on first, UCF third baseman Sierra Humphreys dropped a single into shallow-left field, but Boone was unable to corral the ball off the bounce, allowing the runners to move up to second and third.
Only working with one out, Maxwell then made a nice play herself.
Jada Cody slapped the ball back up the middle, which Maxwell gloved and shuttled over to first for the second out of the inning, then Maxwell trusted her defense and induced a ground ball from Chloe Evans to get out of the inning.
UCF went back to Felton in the circle to start the fourth inning, which was the Knights’ fifth pitching change of the game.
Both Felton and reliever Sona Halajian re-entered the game as UCF coach Cindy Ball-Malone never let OU’s offense get all the way through the lineup with the same pitcher.
Felton frustrated Oklahoma upon her return, holding the Sooners off the board as the Knights tried to get into the game.
A snafu in the field gave UCF a change to get on the board in the bottom of the fifth.
Cody singled to center with two outs, but instead of simply getting the ball back into the infield, Coleman fired down to first base.
Parker, who had been inserted into the defensive lineup at first in favor of the always steady Sanders, wasn’t ready for Coleman’s throw. The ball rolled into foul territory and allowed Cody to take second base on the throwing error.
Maxwell looked unbothered, firing two straight strikes to Evans, but the UCF right fielder battled admirably.
She didn’t allow Maxwell to coax her into a bad swing, and after taking three balls and fouling off three pitches, Evans doubled into the corner in right field to cut OU’s lead to 6-1.
Maxwell then issued a four-pitch walk, but struck out Shannon Doherty to end the inning.
Oklahoma dialed back in on Felton in the seventh.
It took just five total pitches for OU to load the bases. Hansen, Pickering and Brito all smoked singles through gaps and into the outfield.
The situation prompted another pitching change, as this time UCF called upon its fourth pitcher of the night in Ava Justman, ending Felton’s Friday.
Avery Hodge was undeterred by the change, as she drew a walk to extend the lead back out to six runs.
Boone poked her first hit of the day through the right side, narrowly missing Hodge, to put the Sooners up 8-1, and Coleman’s second walk of the day added to the advantage again.
Oklahoma’s last run of the inning scored when Parker hit into a fielder’s choice, capping off the four-run frame.
Up 10-1, Gasso left Maxwell in to record the first out of the seventh before turning to Karlie Keeney.
Maxwell allowed eight hits and two walks, but struck out five and crucially limited the Knights to the lone run in 6 1/3 innings.
Keeney swiftly notched the second out of the seventh, but she left her 1-2 delivery hanging and Evans pounced, clobbering a solo home run. UCF drew another walk off Keeney before she closed out the win.
The Sooners have a chance to notch the series victory on Saturday at 1 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Oklahoma
Oklahoma State on Verge of Elimination from Bowl Contention

Oklahoma State is set for more Big 12 action this weekend, but it could make the inevitable official.
On Saturday, OSU will head to Lubbock to face No. 14 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are coming off their first loss of the season but still have arguably the best team in the Big 12. As one of the frontrunners for the conference’s spot in the College Football Playoff, they shouldn’t have many issues taking care of business against an OSU team that hasn’t won a Big 12 game since 2023.
Along with being on a years-long drought in conference play, the Cowboys haven’t beaten an FBS team since September 2024. With this being the eighth game of the season, that also means OSU is down to its final hopes of making a bowl game.
Of course, the Cowboys have effectively been out of bowl contention since losing to Tulsa. While at that point there were still plenty of games left to play, that loss showed that OSU might not be ready to compete with anyone of note.
That assumption turned out to be entirely correct, as OSU hasn’t had another game within one possession since that loss to its in-state rival, which also led to the firing of Mike Gundy. While falling out of bowl contention seemed inevitable for the Pokes for much of the season, this weekend could be when it officially becomes reality.
Sitting at 1-6, the Cowboys would need to rattle off five straight wins to get to bowl eligibility. Considering they will start that journey as nearly 40-point underdogs in Lubbock this weekend, it’s safe to say that won’t happen.
While this is the reality OSU football is in at this point, it’s still a stark reminder of how quickly things can change in college football. Just two years ago, OSU won 10 games, made the Big 12 title game, which led to an appearance in the Texas Bowl, marking the Pokes’ 18th straight bowl appearance.
The last time OSU missed bowl games in consecutive seasons was 2000-01, when Bob Simmons’ final season and Les Miles’ first season at the helm both ended with losing records. Of course, Gundy missed a bowl game only twice in his 20 full seasons as the Cowboys’ head coach, but this year likely would have been his third had he gotten the opportunity to see it through.
While nothing about OSU’s outlook will change on Saturday when the Cowboys are likely eliminated from bowl contention, it is still a reminder of how far the program has fallen.
Oklahoma
Thunder receive NBA championship rings, raise title banner: Check it out

NBA teams with most pressure in 2025-26
Breaking down which NBA teams are under the most pressure to win going into the 2025-26 season.
The 2025-26 NBA season started Tuesday night in Oklahoma City as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder hosted Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets.
Before tip-off, the Thunder celebrated their 2024-25 NBA championship season and raised their first title banner since the organization moved to Oklahoma City.
OKC players were greeted by NBA commissioner Adam Silver as they were introduced to the home crowd and received their championship rings.
Here’s how the players reacted to the championship rings and banner being raised:
Thunder receive championship rings, raise title banner
Here’s a detailed view of the Thunder’s new bling:
Oklahoma
Interim study held over misuse of ALPR cameras

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — An Oklahoma Representative says the state’s Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) are being misused by law enforcement.
When News 4 spoke with Rep. Tom Gann (R-Inola) in August, he claimed law enforcement was abusing the purpose of ALPRs, which is used to make sure Oklahoma drivers are insured.
Gann and others presented how ALPR cameras are infringing on peoples 4th Amendment right.
He says if action isn’t taken soon on governing how law enforcement is using these cameras, the citizens of Oklahoma will end up paying for it.
“These are serious violations of people’s rights and this comes from a lack of internal controls,” Gann said. “We have feds using local cops passwords to do immigration surveillance with flock cameras. It is the fact that he can pass his password around to anybody he wants to, to get onto this system is a problem. We need internal controls otherwise we create more victims with these flock cameras.”
License plate readers have been legal in Oklahoma since 2018.
The cameras intention was to enforce the Compulsory Insurance Law, making sure drivers aren’t on the road without insurance.
“Under the appropriate use, this is a good thing,” Shena Burgess, Attorney said. “We want people to have insurance. If people have insurance, then our insurance rates go down. I was all for that part.”
Oklahoma’s Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion (UVED) Program says these cameras have helped greatly, drastically reduced the number of uninsured drivers on the road.
Over the past seven years, we’ve realized a significant reduction in uninsured vehicles operating on Oklahoma roadways. UVED offers Oklahomans a chance to achieve compliance without law enforcement interaction, without criminal charges, without court costs, and without time
lost from work, school, or home.Spokesperson for Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion (UVED)
However, Burgess says those cameras are being used for much more.
“The Tulsa County Sheriffs Office testified in a federal court that they use the Automated License Plate Readers all the time, for purposes that have nothing to do with whether or not the vehicles have insurance,” Burgess said.
Gann says this has led to instances where law enforcement have pulled over the wrong person thinking they were a suspect in a crime.
“We have victims of mass surveillance out there already,” Gann said. “When tag numbers are misread, you have people like this, where her and her 12 year-old sister were held at gunpoint because of a misread on a tag.”
He also mentions that this is a violation of your 4th Amendment right.
“The 4th Amendment offers security to a person when they place themselves in a constitutionally protected area albeit home, office, hotel room or automobile,” Gann said.
Burgess says this is a major concern for her, and what this could mean for future court cases.
“Once challenges start happening, civil lawsuits are going to follow,” Burgess said. “It is going to be our citizens who end up paying for this.”
The meeting was supposed to be a joint study between Gann and Rep. Tim Turner (R-Kinta), but Gann told Turner he would be taking up the allotted time, so Turner decided to withdraw his study.
They say they will continue to work toward a solution over the misuse of ALPR cameras.
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