OKLAHOMA CITY – University of Oklahoma slugger Jocelyn Alo will lead one of the most prolific home run-hitting teams in NCAA history into the Women’s College World Series.
The nation’s individual leader this season with 30 homers, Alo was named 2021’s top college player by USA Softball. She paces a team that has 146 total homers – second all-time to Hawaii’s 158 in 2010 – and leads the nation this year with 2.81 homers per game. Second-place Arizona State averaged 1.94.
“I think this team is very special,” Alo said, “and I think that if we just continue to play our game and do what we do and not try to do too much, we’re going to be in a really good spot.”
Alo’s top-seeded Sooners (50-2) faces unseeded James Madison University (39-2) in the opening game Thursday in Oklahoma City. In other matchups, No. 5 seed Oklahoma State (47-10) will play unseeded Georgia (34-21), No. 3 Alabama (50-7) will face No. 11 Arizona (41-13) and No. 2 UCLA (46-5) – the reigning WCWS champion as the 2019 tournament winner – will play No. 10 Florida State (44-10-1). The two teams that emerge from double-elimination play will face off in a best-of-three championship series that starts Monday.
University of Alabama photo by Jeff Hanson / Alabama, the SEC tournament winner and the No. 3 overall seed for the NCAA softball tournament, is now among the final eight teams as the Women’s College World Series begins in Oklahoma City.Alo shares the program’s single-season home run record with Lauren Chamberlain, yet she is just one of the team’s many threats.