Oklahoma's Shay Knighten smacks a bases-clearing double in the bottom of the second inning, putting the Sooners back on top against the Gators 5-3. (0:30)

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The No. 1 seed and the team with one of the best pitching staffs in the history of college softball, Florida simply ran out of people who could get Shay Knighten out.

Which explains as well as just about anything else why the national championship will stay right where it resided when the season began, on the campus of the University of Oklahoma about 30 minutes down the highway from Hall of Fame Stadium.

The title will stay where it has spent more time than anywhere else this century.

A night after needing 17 innings to win the longest game in the history of the championship series, No. 10 Oklahoma's 5-4 win against No. 1 Florida in a mere seven innings on Tuesday completed a sweep of the best-of-three final in the Women's College World Series. The defending champion is now a back-to-back champion.

The first school from beyond the traditional softball states of Arizona and California to win a national title in what amounts to the college game's modern age, when it won for the first time in 2000, Oklahoma is the first program to win four national championships during this century.

The Sooners got there by going through the strength of the tournament favorite, a Florida team that was trying to stake its own claim to dynasty by winning a third title in four seasons. The Gators entered the championship round having allowed just seven home runs and 27 doubles in 66 games. Oklahoma hit four doubles and four home runs in two games, none to greater effect than what Knighten did against the two best pitchers Florida had to offer.

It was Knighten, named most outstanding player, who finally brought the marathon opening game to a conclusion with a decisive three-run home run off Kelly Barnhill, the national player of the year, in the 17th inning. And it was Knighten who erased Florida's lead and its momentum in the second inning of Game 2 with a bases-clearing, two-out double off Delanie Gourley, an All-American in her third World Series.

Far from feeling beaten down by the loss a night earlier, Florida bounced back well after Oklahoma's Nicole Mendes put her team in front with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning. The Gators responded immediately with three runs in the top of the second inning to chase Sooners ace Paige Parker and suggest there would be softball to play Wednesday night in Oklahoma City. But after the bottom of the order chased surprise Florida starter Aleshia Ocasio, Knighten drove the first pitch she saw to the fence in front of the bleachers full of Oklahoma fans.

The toll of the previous night's innings meant Tuesday's game was likely to be played by committee by both sides. No pitcher was going to go seven innings. Runs would be scored. A win for any team would require many authors, and Oklahoma had plenty. It got the early home run from Mendes, a freshman who followed that up with an inning of valuable relief in the circle despite pitching only sparingly down the stretch this season. The Sooners had Paige Lowary, one of the stars a night earlier, come on in relief and strike out Florida slugger Amanda Lorenz to end the sixth inning with the tying run in scoring position.

Lowary, the former ace who transferred to Oklahoma because she wanted to be part of a pitching staff, struck out Nicole DeWitt and Ocasio for the first two outs in the seventh inning, then calmly gather a high bouncer and throw to first for the title.

And the Sooners had Knighten driving the ball deep into the Oklahoma night.

Oklahoma was the lowest seed to win a national title, but it was no Cinderella. The Sooners began this season with lofty expectations and the No. 1 ranking, after winning the title a season ago with a roster of mostly freshmen and sophomores. Wearing that crown proved to be its own challenge, from two losses the first weekend of the season all the way through a loss to North Dakota State in the opening game of a regional that forced the Sooners to win four consecutive elimination games just to reach a super regional. But the talent to be more was never in doubt.

Oklahoma didn't upset Florida. It stood in against a historic pitching staff and, with Knigten's swings the lasting images, came out with the trophy. Again.