OKLAHOMA CITY – Jocelyn Alo and Tiare Jennings put the Oklahoma Sooners on the brink of a second straight softball national championship with their stellar play throughout the Women’s College World Series.
Their teammates brought it home.
Kinzie Hansen and Grace Lyons hit three-run homers, Jayda Coleman made spectacular defensive plays and No. 1 seed Oklahoma beat unseeded Texas 10-5 on Thursday night to sweep the best-of-three title round and repeat as champions.
Alo, the two-time collegiate player of the year for USA Softball, was named most outstanding player of the WCWS. She hit .667 for the WCWS, tied Jennings for a series-record five home runs and set a series mark with 12 runs scored.
Alo ends her career with a Division I-record 122 home runs. Most important to her, she ended one of the greatest college careers with a win.
“These are the moments that I’ll remember forever,” she said. “I’m just happy to be going out top and to just know that all the hard work we put in paid off.”
The Sooners (59-3) beat Big 12 rival Texas (47-22-1) for the second straight night, having won the opener of the title series 16-1, and sealed their sixth national title overall.
Oklahoma also won NCAA championships in 2000, 2013, 2016 and 2017, and the Sooners were runners-up at the WCWS in 2012 and 2019. The NCAA tournament was not held in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Alo hit a hard single in her final at-bat in the sixth inning and later scored. In the seventh, she stepped in to play left field and caught two fly balls for outs before leaving the game to a standing ovation.
The Sooners’ starting lineup also included fifth-year senior Jana Johns, a former Calhoun (Georgia) High School standout who played her first three college seasons at South Carolina before helping Oklahoma to its back-to-back championships.
In this year’s title round, the third baseman went 1-for-4 with a double in the clinching victory after going 2-for-3 with a home run – her 13th of the season – and two RBIs on Wednesday.
The future looks bright for the Sooners. Jennings set a WCWS record with 15 RBIs, and she and Coleman were sophomores this season.
And then there’s Oklahoma’s Jordy Bahl (22-1). Selected freshman of the year by the NFCA, she settled down after a rough start Thursday, ultimately allowing two runs and four hits in four innings.
“We’re all competitors, and when you are a competitor, if there’s something else out there you can go get, you’re going to want to go get it,” Bahl said. “So I don’t ever worry about us ever losing our hunger to win more national championships. I’m going to enjoy this one.”
Texas wasn’t even expected to reach the WCWS, but the Longhorns expected a better performance than they gave on Wednesday. Texas coach Mike White called the loss to Oklahoma to open the title round embarrassing, but he thought Thursday’s effort was better.
“My job was to pick them back up, (have them) come back out and fight,” White said. “Do the Texas fight. I thought we did that. I thought we fought well. Just didn’t turn out our way.”
Texas pitcher Estelle Czech (13-2) began Thursday’s game with three scoreless innings but ran into trouble in the fourth and fifth and was replaced.
Mia Scott hit a three-run homer in the seventh and JJ Smith had two hits for the Longhorns (47-22-1), who had survived six elimination games in NCAA tournament play before Thursday.
“I think it was all worth it in the end to say that we left it all out there and emptied our gas tanks to get to where we are,” Texas catcher Mary Iakopo said.
The Longhorns looked ready to compete Thursday. They loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning and scored two runs, but Coleman jumped above the fence for a spectacular grab that robbed Courtney Day of a two-run homer and ended the inning.
“I have seen Jayda do that over and over and over in practice, but when it’s in a game and she has your back as well as everyone else on our defense, that stuff fires me up more than any strikeout ever will,” Bahl said. “It gives us momentum and really just lets me take a deep breath because they’ve got me.”
Oklahoma finally got on the board in the fourth. After the Sooners got their first run after a throwing error, Taylon Snow’s RBI single tied the game at 2.
In the fourth, Coleman had another defensive gem, throwing out a Texas runner at second from the warning track.
Alyssa Brito’s RBI double in the fifth gave Oklahoma the lead for the first time, and Hansen’s blast later in the inning put the Sooners up 6-2.
The crowd stood for Alo’s at-bat in the sixth, hoping for one more blast. Instead, her single loaded the bases. Two batters later, Lyons’ homer made it 10-2.
Then Alo had her moment in the seventh. Tears streamed down her face as she ran off the field.
“Going back to back – no better way to finish your career,” Alo said. “I’ve had a lovely five years here, and it’s been hard at times, but I wouldn’t change it I’ve enjoyed my journey here and sad that it’s coming to an end.”