Unseeded, snubbed Texas softball playing with a chip on its shoulder entering finals

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If we're going to talk about Texas' run to the finals of the Women's College World Series, we need to talk about the Oklahoma game. The Longhorns felt like they had everything to prove and nothing to lose when they were snubbed and slighted in the NCAA tournament.

Before Texas could become the first unseeded team to ever reach the championship series on Monday, coaches and players had to tune in to Selection Sunday in order to understand why they weren't a top-16 seed. Only about half of the team clapped when their name was announced on TV. The other half seemed to be a mixture of surprise and annoyance.

They were going to host a regional all the way. The only team to beat Oklahoma during the regular season was the team that had 29 wins over top 100 teams. The NCAA didn't want the Longhorns to have home field advantage in Austin, so they sent them to Seattle.

They went clear across the country and beat Weber State and avoided elimination during a nail-biter of a game against Washington in which they almost blew a three-run lead. They were rewarded with a trip to the Super Regional. After losing the first game to the Razorbacks, Texas regrouped and won the next two games to advance to the World Series for the first time in four years.

The celebration on the field looked normal from the outside. Something stuck in players' throats. The NCAA and NCAA Softball accounts were tagged in a draft of a message by the Longhorns pitcher because she was upset by it. She hit SEND. The celebration photos from other super regional sites were alluding to how Texas was given.

@NCAA @NCAASoftball can y'all spot the difference in those photos. crazy y'all never had us winning.... 0 shirts, 0 hats and no "ticket punched" sign. so much for the student athlete experience HA. https://t.co/gMbHv4tzJ9

— Hailey Dolcini (@haileydolcini) May 28, 2022

The Texas athletic director said he was going to have the NCAA look into what happened and that he apologized for the lack of CWS hype. The gear didn't make it to Fayetteville in time.

The "Why" didn't matter to White. His team was able to feed off of it. He told the players that they could be a Cinderella story.

The Cinderella is wearing footwear. The team has an edge because of close calls and comebacks. How else could it come back from a five run deficit against Oklahoma State? The Longhorns were the beneficiary of a two-error play that resulted in three runs being scored.

Don't look at their aggressiveness on the basepath and how they're able to force the issue with the leadoff position being chaotic. In the thirdinning against the favored Cowgirls, Dolcini came on and gave up two runs and hung tough, not allowing another to cross home plate the rest of the way.

After the event, she was ecstatic. She spoke to reporters just before midnight after throwing a complete-game shut out to keep her team alive.

She thought it was crazy. It's hard to believe. I wouldn't want to go through it with other people. There is a lot of pitchers. There is a lot of hitting going on. There is a lot of defense in this picture. We are so excited. We proved everyone wrong and are going to play very hard.

Czech was so excited that she apologized. She held something back as it turned out.

She apologized. I was trying not to say bad things.

The woman sat to her right.

We can't lose in this situation.

Sure, Oklahoma has only three losses and a formidable lineup with three players who have at least twenty home runs. Texas does not have a single player with more than a dozen home runs, but it does have the ability to play small ball and 17 come-from-behind wins.

The Longhorns don't seem to mind the fact that the Sooners have a home field advantage in Oklahoma City. "We just tell ourselves they're cheering for us, and that's how we can overcome it," said the man.

Mary Iakopo said that the Longhorns are used to having the crowd against them.

Since the national title celebration ended last year, Oklahoma has been under a lot of pressure. The fans are supportive but also a little spoiled according to the coach. "Go win it all, you're the top team," she said. You should win it all because you are the top dog.

She said to wait a minute. It doesn't work like that now.

Texas doesn't have to worry about that. The program has never made it to the finals of the tournament. It can be seen as a gift or a curse that White has never coached in the finals. The players have talked about being relaxed and free.

Their coach told them to be dangerous.

The two teams that make up the Red River Rivalry have a lot of things in common. They have faced each other four times this season and Oklahoma has a 3-1 advantage. Oklahoma's 40-game winning streak ended in April. The Sooners avenged their loss to the Longhorns on the second day of the World Series.

It can't be seen as a true rivalry until the Longhorns beat the Sooners. She said that the fact that they did makes it possible to call it that again.

White was asked at the beginning of the news conference if he believed in the idea of playing with money. He said he's a donator when he goes to Vegas.

White tried to explain his gambling philosophy to the room, which was full of laughter.

He said that if you make a small amount of money, you should spend it and try to get more.

If the Longhorns have a chip to play with, they shouldn't be counted out.