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Oklahoma softball: Defense derails top-seeded Sooners in WCWS humbling

By Chip Rouse

SEPTEMBER 23 - BLACKTOWN: A general view of the softball game between women's Chinese and Canadian national teams, playing at the Blacktown Olympic Center, in Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia, on September 23, 2000. (Photo by Stephen Munday/Getty Images)
SEPTEMBER 23 - BLACKTOWN: A general view of the softball game between women's Chinese and Canadian national teams, playing at the Blacktown Olympic Center, in Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia, on September 23, 2000. (Photo by Stephen Munday/Getty Images) /
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The best defense in the country unraveled for Oklahoma softball and four UCLA home runs added insult to injury as No, 2 UCLA hammered the top-seeded Sooners 16-3 in Game 1 of the best-of-three Women’s College World Series championship series on Monday night.

The Sooners (57-5), the best defensive team in the country this season, committed an uncharacteristic four errors — three in the third inning — that led to two UCLA runs and put Oklahoma on the outs early on in a game that was totally dominated by the Bruins (55-6).

UCLA starter and USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year was brilliant in the circle for the Bruins. She went five innings, allowing just one run — a home run to OU senior Shay Knighton in the second inning that tied the score at 1-1 — on three hits in dominating the nation’s No. 1 offensive team.

The Bruins added single runs in the fourth and fifth and exploded for six more in a two home-run sixth. And they weren’t finished. They added another five spot in the seventh to close out the scoring in handing Oklahoma its worse loss in seven seasons.

The Sooners used four pitchers in trying to thwart the aggressive UCLA offense, all to no avail. UCLA’s 16 runs was the most ever scored in a WCWS championship series and easily one of the most ever scores against a Patty Gasso Oklahoma team.

Oklahoma had absolutely no answer for the UCLA offense on this night, teeing off on the four Sooner hurlers for 16 hits, seven of which went for extra bases. Garcia not only starred in the circle for the Bruins but went two for five at the plate, with one of the four UCLA round trippers, and drove in four runs.

The top five hitters in the Sooner lineup were a collective 2 for 14 at the plat contributing in a major way to OU’s giant downfall in this contest.

There was very little positive to glean from this game if you are an Oklahoma fan. The performance was hardly worthy of a team deserving to be playing for a national championship.

The big question now is if the Sooners can recover from this humbling performance, get it behind them, and come back and win Game 2 in the series and force a deciding third game.

It will be a huge uphill climb, especially knowing that 79 percent of the teams that win Game 1 have gone on to win the WCWS since the best-of-three format was introduced in 2005. Only three teams have overcome a one-game deficit and gone on to win a national championship in the last 14 season, but it has happened.

The Sooner players and coaches must believe that they have been ranked No. 1 for most of the season for a reason, and they have to come out and show it on Tuesday night or their sensational 2019 season will come to a distasteful and highly disappointing end.

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