Women's College World Series: Oklahoma wraps up fifth title

AP photo by Sue Ogrocki / Oklahoma's Jayda Coleman, center, celebrates at home plate with Jana Johns, left, and Grace Lyons after hitting a home run in the second inning against Florida State on Thursday. Oklahoma won 5-1 in Game 3 of the best-of-three title round at the Women's College World Series, earning the program's fifth national championship.
AP photo by Sue Ogrocki / Oklahoma's Jayda Coleman, center, celebrates at home plate with Jana Johns, left, and Grace Lyons after hitting a home run in the second inning against Florida State on Thursday. Oklahoma won 5-1 in Game 3 of the best-of-three title round at the Women's College World Series, earning the program's fifth national championship.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Giselle Juarez returned to form as the star pitcher that Oklahoma's softball team needed to complement its high-powered offense, and now the Sooners are national champions again.

Juarez threw her second consecutive complete game, and Oklahoma beat Florida State 5-1 on Thursday for its fifth Women's College World Series title.

The Sooners lacked a dominant pitcher heading into the WCWS, but their super senior answered the call, including in the decisive Game 3 of the title round as she allowed one run on two hits. Oklahoma had won 6-2 in Game 2 less than 24 hours earlier behind Juarez, who went 5-0 at this year's WCWS and was named most outstanding player of the eight-team event. The left-hander allowed four runs in 31 1/3 innings at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.

Juarez was a first-team All-American in 2019, but she had surgery on her left arm last year and struggled when she returned.

"The beginning of the season wasn't great for me, but I just kept grinding and trusting God's plan for myself. He had this moment planned for me," Juarez said.

Much of the crowd stood when Juarez took the circle in the seventh inning. Fittingly, the final out was a popup into her glove.

"Honestly, I was kind of hoping it didn't go in the sun and that they would let me catch it," she said. "But I mean, it felt so slow motion, and then just to look up after I caught it and see (Kinzie) Hansen running at me - surreal, awesome moment."

After Juarez secured the ball, teammates mobbed her and "Boomer Sooner" blared over the sound system as the crowd of 10,830 - mostly Oklahoma fans - celebrated the win just 25 miles from campus.

photo AP photo by Sue Ogrocki / Oklahoma's Giselle Juarez reacts after striking out Florida State's Cassidy Davis in the first inning of Thursday's game in Oklahoma City.

It wasn't easy for the top-seeded Sooners (56-4). They came out of the losers' bracket after dropping a stunner to unseeded James Madison University in the tournament's opening game, but Oklahoma beat the Dukes twice in the semifinal round, then recovered from an 8-4 loss to Florida State in the championship series opener.

Florida State (49-13-1) was seeking its second national championship in the past three WCWS under coach Lonni Alameda. The 10th-seeded Seminoles finished second in the Atlantic Coast Conference during the regular season, lost in the semifinals of the league tournament, and had to win twice at No. 7 seed LSU in a super regional. They lost their opener in Oklahoma City last week before winning five straight to get to the brink of a national title.

"I'm just so proud of the team to be here, and everything we've gone through this year to persevere and to be in this moment is what we dreamt of," Florida State center fielder Dani Morgan said. "I'm just proud of this team. We were able to get here and give everything we had."

Oklahoma also won titles in 2000, '13, '16 and '17, all under coach Patty Gasso. The Sooners set the NCAA Division I single-season record with 161 home runs this season.

Jocelyn Alo hit four homers in the WCWS, including the go-ahead blast in Game 2, on her way to all-tournament honors. Her homer in Game 3 was her 34th of the season, extending a program record for the USA Softball college player of the year.

"We knew that we wanted to set the tone pretty early," Gasso said. "Jocelyn Alo is made differently. When she puts her mind to something, she gets it done, whatever it is."

Oklahoma left fielder Mackenzie Donihoo went 10-for-21 in the WCWS and made several outstanding catches during the week to also earn all-tourney honors.

Florida State's Kathryn Sandercock, who won three WCWS games, gave up one hit in 3 1/3 innings of relief in the finale. Freshman teammate Kaley Mudge set the record for hits in a WCWS with 14; she had 16 all season before arriving in Oklahoma City.

"I'm just blessed to be here, honestly," Mudge said. "Coming into the World Series, I did not think that I was going to break any records. I was just excited to put my feet on the clay here."

Alo's homer got things started for Oklahoma on Thursday. Jayda Coleman poked one just over the fence in the second inning to give the Sooners a 2-0 lead and the early jolt they had been lacking for much of the week.

Florida State got its only run in the third when Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings lost a popup in the sun, allowing Kalei Harding to score.

Oklahoma responded quickly. With the bases loaded and two outs in the third, Jennings scored on a wild pitch by freshman reliever Emma Wilson. Coleman then hit a hard line drive off the left field wall to score two and give the Sooners a 5-1 lead.

There could be more in store for the Sooners. Jennings and Jayda Coleman were first-team All-Americans as freshmen, and Jennings was named freshman of the year.

"For them to find out what it feels like and what it takes to win it," Gasso said, "the future is really, really bright for the Sooners."

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