OKLAHOMA CITY — Coming off an emotional, grueling 6-5 win over Florida in extra innings on Tuesday, there was a question facing Oklahoma.

Would there be fatigue for the Sooners, with their Women's College World Series finals matchup with Texas beginning just 26 hours later?

The Sooners, ironically, appeared to be fresh from the opening pitch on Wednesday. The hits came early and often for the Sooners, who left Devon Field with an 8-3 win over the Longhorns.

No rest, no problem.

After Jayda Coleman forced a leadoff walk to open the game, Tiare Jennings sent a two-run home run to left-center field just six pitchers later that gave the Sooners an early 2-0 lead.

That was an important hit for the Sooners to establish early momentum, something they didn't have in either game against Florida.

"We obviously didn't hit our best the last couple days, I would say, against Florida," OU catcher Kinzie Hansen said. "Tiare came out, she threw the first punch of the game. She hit that bomb. We were super stoked for her."

Ella Parker followed that up with a double, as the Sooners appeared comfortable hitting against Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan.

The Longhorns did respond in the bottom of the first. Mia Scott blasted a solo home run off of Kelly Maxwell to cut the OU lead to 2-1. But Maxwell forced a flyout and a groundout to prevent further damage.

In the third inning, the Sooners' offense went back to work.

Parker opened the top of the frame with a single to continue her hot streak from Tuesday, when she went three for three against the Gators. Veteran Kinzie Hansen promptly followed that with a two-run home run of her own.

Three pitches later, true freshman Kasidi Pickering blasted a solo home run to dead centerfield, pushing the Sooners' lead to four runs.

The Hansen and Pickering duo were in the action again in the fifth inning. Hansen hit a two-out double to the wall, then the Longhorns fumbled an exchange at first base on Pickering's ground ball, which gave Hansen a pathway home to push the lead to five runs.

"(They) brought so much energy and life to the dugout," Jennings said. "It got us so fired up. Again, all that passing information to each other, instilling confidence within one another, then good things happen."

"It was really a cool moment. Kinzie has done it before, but for Kas, just to see her smile, and celebrating with her was really fun."

Jennings added an RBI single in the sixth inning. Alyssa Brito hit a leadoff double in the top of the seventh, then found home on the Longhorns' second error of the day.

The decision to throw Kavan backfired for Longhorns, as she surrendered five hits and five runs in 2.1 innings pitched. But the Longhorns threw three different pitchers, and the Sooners simply had an answer for every one of them. They finished with nine hits as a team while only striking out twice. Jennings, Parker and Hansen each finished with two hits, and Jennings finished with a team-high three RBIs.

"That was what won us the game," OU coach Patty Gasso said, "was really good swings, very calculated, swinging at good pitches, swinging hard.

"There are some that want it so bad they'll go in the dugout and get a little discouraged over it. I didn't see any of that. It was just really feeding into the offense."

The biggest concern for signs of fatigue was with Maxwell, who threw all eight innings against the Gators on Tuesday. But OU coach Patty Gasso had no reservations putting her ace in the circle against the Longhorns.

Maxwell delivered, and recorded another full game in the process. After surrendering that home run to Scott, Maxwell showed no signs of wear and tear. She allowed just four total hits while striking out eight batters and walking four.

Her only other blemishes came in the sixth inning. A Cydney Sanders error allowed Viviana Martinez find third base, then Katie Stewart scored her on an RBI single. Maxwell allowed two more hits, including an RBI single to Joley Mitchell that cut OU's lead to four runs. But Maxwell responded with a strikeout to end the frame and strand two Texas base runners.

The two-seeded Sooners (58-7) are now just one win away from securing their fourth consecutive national championship and eighth overall. But Gasso and the Sooners know that securing another win against the Longhorns isn't going to be easy.

"You see us here, and we're not over-jubilant because we know there's still a lot of work to do against a very, very good team that has very good pitchers, very good hitters," Gasso said. "I mean, we know what's in front of us still. So you don't see us celebrating. There's still a lot of work to do.

"But proud of the approach that we had today, the energy, the effort, just the fact that we kind of punched first was important for us."

Game two is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN.

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