Oklahoma Sooners Hot Links: Romero’s Walk-Off, Third-Down Dominance, and More!

Good afternoon, Sooner Nation!

While it was a disappointing weekend for Oklahoma Sooners baseball, the softball squad narrowly avoided having their season ended by — what else? — harnessing a little bit of Sooner magic.

It was Sydney Romero who was the hero, belting a walk-off moonshot in the bottom of the tenth inning (remember: softball games are regularly only seven innings long) to keep OU’s championship hopes alive.

In sum:

Catch a replay of the towering homer here. The de facto championship game of the Norman regional is today, with the Sooners taking on Tulsa in the deciding game as we speak. Catch the action on ESPNU or ESPN3.

Without further ado, here’s today’s edition of Hot Links.

OU Links:

• For a full recap of the softball regional thriller, check out SoonerSports.com.
• OU baseball is set to face arch-rival Texas in the first game of the Big 12 Baseball Championship on Wednesday night in Bricktown.
• Under offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, the Sooners have become one of college football’s best at converting on third down.
• Here’s a really cool picture of Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine in their NFL unis. It will probably take me quite a while to get used to the sight of this:

• Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy’s hair will soon be eligible to play collegiate football. No word on if it will redshirt its freshman year or not:

National Links:

• If you follow us on Twitter (and if you don’t, do it now!), you may have noticed a new avatar. That’s because we’re lending our support to someone who will ensure the wellbeing of college football for decades to come. Nevermind the fact that there is no commissioner of college football — Bill is the man for the job.
• One of the more fascinating ideas that Connelly came up with is the addition of European soccer-style promotion and relegation.
• Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh helped deliver a calf this morning. What have you accomplished?
• LeBron James had dominated the NBA Playoffs until last night’s embarrassing loss to a shorthanded Boston Celtics squad. I’ve never said (much less thought) this before, but he looked gassed.

‘STICK TO SPORTS!’

• Jack White of The White Stripes is releasing a children’s book inspired by the song “We’re Going To Be Friends.” The book will also come with downloads of apparently reworked versions of the song.
• With all respect to any and all friends in the Bay: this San Francisco Rat Cafe is the most San Francisco thing ever.