AUSTIN, Texas — On Saturday, the Sooners' early 1-0 lead had turned into a 2-1 deficit heading into the fifth inning.

On Sunday, the Sooners found themselves in the exact same situation.

Ella Parker blasted a leadoff home run in the top of the third to give the Sooners a 1-0 lead. But missed opportunities — which proved to be the theme of the weekend — struck again, as Jayda Coleman and Tiare Jennings were stranded on base to prevent the Sooners from adding insurance runs.

Texas took advantage. Kelly Maxwell managed to force two ground outs to start the bottom of the fourth inning, but Katie Stewart bombed a two-out home run to left field to give the Longhorns a 2-1 lead.

Despite having three innings to respond, the Sooners simply never found their late-game offense. They recorded just two hits the rest of the way, but couldn't turn them into runs.

The result? A second-consecutive 2-1 loss for the Sooners at Red & Charline McCombs Field.

The loss marks the Sooners' first Big 12 series loss since 2011, and their first series loss to Texas since 2009.

"Pretty much a replay of yesterday," OU coach Patty Gasso said. "Some very outstanding pitching on both sides. I was proud of our pitching staff for holding a very potent Texas offense to two runs. The Texas pitchers were outstanding this weekend and they came at us, they were confident, you could feel all that, and we just left too many opportunities. We weren't getting our swings off."

The Sooners simply never found their rhythm over the weekend, particularly in the second and third games.

Freshman Teagan Kavan gave up the home run to Parker, but otherwise held the Sooners to just two hits and zero runs in the first 3.2 innings. Estelle Czech, who held the Sooners in check on Friday as a relief pitcher, completely stifled the OU offense, holding them to three hits over the final 3.1 innings.

“She’s really tough on all hitters, but especially lefties," Gasso said of Czech. "And we've got some crucial, critical lefties in the lineup. We’ve just gotta learn. She was really good. She took that role, and you could see it in her face. She wanted that opportunity to finish and close."

The Sooners' seven total runs across the three games marks their lowest scoring output in a weekend series since 2012.

"I think we didn't adjust when we knew that they were making adjustments themselves," OU third baseman Alyssa Brito said. "They did a really great job of constantly changing up their plans. We knew we were better than that and what we showed and how we responded. But also I just think we needed to stay within us. I

"'I'm not too worried about it, honestly. Like coach said, the sun rises again tomorrow and we get to go to practice and work and get at it for another day. I think this is a learning experience and this is something we needed as an offense to push us because they are a really good staff. They have really good arms, consistently. This is only going to prepare us for what's to come and I'm excited to see how we respond collectively. That's probably the main thing."

— When Gasso inserted Kierston Deal into Saturday's game to relieve Nicole May, it raised a question.

Would Kelly Maxwell, who threw all seven innings on Friday, get the call again on Sunday?

She did, marking her first time to start two games in a conference series as a Sooner.

Maxwell started the game in stellar fashion, striking out six batters over the first three innings. But after Stewart's home run, and Bella Dayton's triple in the fifth inning, Gasso brought in Deal to relieve Maxwell. Deal pitched the final 1.1 innings and didn't surrender a hit or run.

Maxwell was nearly flawless over the weekend, striking out 16 batters while surrendering just six hits and four runs across 11.2 innings.

"This is the best I’ve seen her," Gasso said. "Confident, cool, calm, execution, getting ahead. (I) liked it so much the first night, wanted to see it again. She handled herself well. I’m telling you, their offense and our offense, it’s almost side by side looking identical. So for us to shut them down to two runs, that’s a big deal. But for them to shut us down to one is bigger. We know exactly where we’re going. But one big takeaway that’s very good for us, is the work of Kelly this weekend in a big atmosphere against big-time hitters.”

“I knew today was gonna be tough," Maxwell added. "Credit Texas’ offense for picking up on my mistakes. But I think there’s more opportunity to learn and grow from this weekend.”

— The Sooners led the Big 12 in walks coming into the weekend, averaging more than six a game. But the Longhorns led them to just six walks across the three games.

— Kasidi Pickering and Parker, the team's freshman duo, combined for three of the team's six hits on Sunday. Parker was particularly outstanding, going two for three at the plate.

"I will say Ella Parker had some really good, freshman battles at the plate and I’m really proud of her," Gasso said. "She looked really different this weekend. Just excited about her future as well.”

— The Sooners fall to 35-3 on the season and 13-2 in conference play. Texas is now 31-6 and 11-4 in Big 12 play.

— The final word from Gasso: "What I'm looking forward to, we needed this, we needed to feel this. Are we broken? Are we shaken? Absolutely not. What we need to do, and we know, is go back to Norman and reset... But we also got some things handed to us in the way of us going back and saying, 'OK, we need to have a better mindset going forward to find a way to win games.' So this is coming at the right time."

— Next up: 6 p.m. Tuesday at Wichita State.